HORSLEY: Unless there's an agreement, other government payments could also be delayed - a billion dollars in tax refunds set to go out June 7, $4 billion in federal salaries payable on June 9. We're not the ones that are out on the streets, you know, with the signs or anything like that, but we vote. M AYERS: We're ordinary American families, and I feel anger because we're being held hostage to a type of blackmail that's going on right now. They count on Social Security to help pay their mortgage and buy groceries. HORSLEY: The Douglas County, Colo., couple, who are in their 80s, don't have pensions to fall back on. MARILYN AYERS: If that goes through, that will really be catastrophe. Retirees Marilyn and Keith Ayers worry about what happens if that money's not there. HORSLEY: That includes seniors - $25 billion in Social Security benefits are set to be paid on June 2. LYLE: There is no good that comes from a default, either to veterans, to active duty service members or other Americans that rely on benefits from the United States government. HORSLEY: Lyle, who runs a veterans advocacy group called Mission Roll Call, says, if benefits are delayed for any length of time, people who are counting on government payments might have to turn to credit cards with increasingly costly interest rates. So it could be potentially very crippling.
If there's not enough money to pay those benefits, Marine Corps veteran Cole Lyle says people who've already sacrificed a lot for their country will be forced to sacrifice even more.ĬOLE LYLE: These are people on very low, sometimes fixed incomes that rely on these payments as a lifeline to pay for housing, to pay for food, to pay for expenses for children and other family members. SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: Among the government's bills coming due June 1 are $12 billion in veterans' benefits. NPR's Scott Horsley reports on what that would look like.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that, unless the borrowing limit is increased, the government could run short of cash to pay its bills as early as June 1. The stakes are high for everyone who's counting on a government payment sometime in the coming weeks. Talks aimed at lifting the federal debt ceiling are back on tonight after a brief pause this afternoon.
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