How you could be impacted if Congress does not reach deal on debt ceiling
The clock is ticking for lawmakers in Washington to reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling. If they fail to do so, the US could default on its debt as soon as June 1st.
If a deal isn't reached to raise the debt ceiling past 31 trillion dollars, economists are concerned the government would have to prioritize funds for federal programs like social security.
Doressa Glover is worried about how that could impact the father of her children.
"He's disabled. He receives SSI so if they cut that he has no income whatsoever and he has renal disease, so he gets dialysis three times a week," said Glover.
She said the family would have to step in to help.
"It just scares me because you know we're gonna have to pitch in get extra jobs in order to help him, because he helped us when he was up," she added.
Federal workers and military members' paychecks could be impacted as well.
Amanda McConaha has two veterans in her family. They count on their federal benefits.
"You know they're not getting a lot of income anyways. I know they depend on that also to get their yearly raises and if they can't get that then that's gonna cap what they eat whether they're gonna have lights, medicine all of their necessary items to live and have a productive life," said McConaha.
Carissa Crider worries about how a potential default would impact the children she works with.
"I at least work with a lot of DHR kids and that's a huge federal program and even in Jefferson County right now, they're already hurting, so I can't imagine what this potential could do for it to be even worse," she said.
Ahmad Ijaz is an economist with the University of Alabama's Culverhouse College of Business. He said a default could also impact interest rates.
"It could have an impact on the housing market through interest rates or it could affect the small business loans if the interest rates go up," said Ijaz.
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See Also: McCarthy: Still 'far apart' from White House on parts of debt ceiling deal
He added, if a decision isn't met, we could go into a recession. However, he is optimistic history will repeat itself and a decision will be made before the deadline.
"I think they will reach some kind of agreement. It may not be the agreement both sides want, but it will probably be the agreement that it will probably not have an impact on the economy," said Ijaz.
If a deal to raise the debt ceiling isn't reached, some college students could be affected. A default would prevent the federal government from spending money on federal student aid like Pell Grants and issuing new student loans.
The deadline for Congress to reach a decision is next week on June 1st.
