U.S. Congress urged to resolve debt issue
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Xinhua, July 4, 2011
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa suggested on Sunday that Congress should resign if it failed to resolve the debt issue.
Democrats and Republicans in Washington "should submit their resignations if they put us in a situation" where the federal government defaults on it debts, the mayor told the CBS News broadcast "Face The Nation".
Republicans and the White House are locked in a standoff over the credit issue, which could put the U.S. in default if it is not solved by early August.
Villaraigosa, a Democrat, blamed members of both parties for failing to compromise on the contentious issue of raising the federal debt limit.
"Democrats won't address entitlements -- Medicare and Social Security -- and Republicans don't want to talk about revenues or defense spending, and the fact is we need to do both," he said.
"I think Washington has its head in the sand," Villaraigosa said. "We're dithering with default, (and are) on the verge, frankly, of jeopardizing the full faith and credit of the United States of America."
The mayor said the rancor of Washington is not present in state capitals, city halls and in the L.A. council chambers.
"I think in cities and states you are seeing a lot less of the polarization, the ideological warfare that you see in the Beltway, in really solving problems," he said.
This was the second time that Villaraigosa has popped up on a Sunday morning network political panel show to attack partisan gridlock in Washington. Last Sunday, he made a similar charge on NBC's "Meet The Press".
Villaraigosa is in the midst of his second term as the mayor of the nation's second-largest city. Under terms of the city charter, he cannot run a third time when his term expires, in 2013.
