Sen. Chambliss not optimistic about debt deal - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

A Georgia politician who spent the last year trying to work across party lines to get the national debt under control is not optimistic the two parties will reach an agreement to raise the nation's debt ceiling in time to avoid a serious hit to the economy.

Talks with Congressional leaders at the White House broke off Monday afternoon with no deal in sight. If there's no deal by August 2nd, the government with default on its debt.

Republicans want to tie a deal to huge spending cuts. President Obama also wants tax hikes on the super rich. Senator Saxby Chambliss says Republicans won't accept tax increases. "The American people simply don't have confidence that if you have taxes raised that Congress is going to apply it to the deficit versus spending that money,"Chambliss said.

He told us over the phone from Washington that no one knows for sure what the effect on the economy will be if the debt ceiling isn't raised because the government has never defaulted on its debt.