Video: Debt Ceiling Debate, Three Local Perspectives

As Washington struggles to reach a compromise in the debt ceiling debate, Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich and others weighed in on what would happen if the situation is not resolved.

House Republican leaders said late Tuesday afternoon they will rewrite their plan to raise the debt ceiling after a review by the Congressional Budget Office determined the bill would not meet savings targets, according to USA Today and other national media outlets.

The review said the bill would only reduce the deficit by $850 billion over 10 years—far short of  the $1.2 trillion House Speaker John Boehner had said the bill would cut over the same period.

Meanwhile, The Huffington Post reported that international leaders are speaking out on the U.S. debt situation and the effects it could have on the global economy.

In an interview with Patch Tuesday, Fort Lee’s mayor called the situation “catastrophic” for the nation, “and quite frankly … embarrassing.”

“Experiencing firsthand what’s been going on in the state of New Jersey and watching from the other side of the river what’s starting to happen in the state of New York, I think it would be helpful to send a Gov. Christie or a Gov. Cuomo in the middle of this to mediate it where it’s a no-nonsense approach,” Sokolich said. “And the approach is … you’re public servants, you’re here to represent America, and right now the job is horrible.”

Sokolich estimated that 10,000 to 12,000 Fort Lee residents—especially seniors on fixed incomes—would be affected by the U.S. government failing to raise the debt ceiling, but he also said that Fort Lee is “self-sustaining,” and that he doesn’t think “there is going to be any impact whatsoever to the borough of Fort Lee and the quality of life of our residents as a result of the problems that they’re having with raising the debt ceiling.”   

Greater Fort Lee Chamber of Commerce board president and small business owner Kenneth Bruno said the impact on local businesses would be immediate.

“I’m sure that many organizations rely on some of those checks that come in from the government, and they’ll obviously have to cut things,” Bruno said. “And the first things that get cut, unfortunately, are chamber of commerce memberships, are any other service that they don’t think is [essential] to make their business function.”

Fort Lee resident and Republican candidate for Borough Council Martha Cohen said that if the borough continues “doing business like we are,” a failure on the part of Washington to come to an agreement would have a negative effect on local services and the already struggling state of local business.

“Whether it’s going to affect senior citizens’ services, whether it’s going to affect our roads being kept up, whether it’s going to affect, in fact, our businesses, our Main Street is like a ghost town,” Cohen said. “And it won’t change it any sooner if people can’t get loans at reasonable prices.”

Congress has an Aug. 2 deadline for getting a bill passed to raise the debt ceiling and avoid potential default.

“No matter how stubborn the Democrats and Republicans are, inevitably this is going to resolve itself,” Sokolich said. “Otherwise it’s the demise of our nation.”

Click on the images above to see more of what Sokolich, Bruno and Cohen had to say to Patch about the debt ceiling issue.