Political theater is afoot big time.  Senate Majority Leader, Democrat Harry Reid, is saying that if the Republicans don't give him what he wants, no Continuing Resolution will be passed and the debt ceiling won't be raised which will cause the United states to default on payment of its debts for the first time in history.  It should be noted that 12 times more revenue necessary to pay those debts is collected each month by the Treasury.  

Perhaps it is time for Mr. Reid to consult with experts who face this kind of problem monthly  --  the average American family.  They could explain to Mr. Reid that if there is not enough money to pay for everything they want and still have enough to pay the mortgage, some of the planned payments will have to be delayed or eliminated in order to leave enough income to pay the mortgage on time.  In other words, they establish priorities for expenditures, and the ones with the highest priority get paid, while the rest do not.  Its a simple, but very effective plan.

With no agreement, if Mr. Obama decides to use up all of the collected revenue for other purposes and leave no money to pay for interest on and  redemption of the nation's maturing credit instruments, well, that is his decision, and he will be solely responsible for the default.

Of course, there are other avenues that could be taken.  The President and Senate could agree to treat all Americans alike by giving ordinary citizens the same one-year delay and wavers the government has already given to over 1,200 special interests.  Those delays and wavers were not provided in the law passed by Congress and signed by the President. (No one seems to know how the President got the authority to grant those wavers and extensions, in essence changing the law unilaterally.)  

A delay for all could be face-saving for the administration due to the many glitches revealed in the almost $700 million software program the government bought to handle the insurance exchange program enrollments that began last October 1st.