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WASHINGTON — Area lawmakers are apparently divided over whether to raise the nation’s debt limit ceiling or risk a potentially dangerous government default.

“Any debt limit deal must include substantial spending cuts and systemic changes to the way Washington spends taxpayer dollars,” U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., said Monday. “I will study each proposal carefully, but with a deficit this year which is nearly $1.5 trillion and a debt that has ballooned from $10.6 trillion just two years ago to $14.3 trillion now, we must take significant steps in the right direction.”

While he admits there may be “serious consequences” from a government default, Griffith said there will also be “serious consequences” if Washington doesn’t quit spending.

“If we do not solve this problem, we will be making it so that my three children — all under 12 years of age — and your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are saddled with a yoke of debt,” Griffith said. “The country will face serious financial issues if the debt ceiling is not raised before Aug. 2 of this year, and it will be because the president was not serious about taking the steps necessary to put our nation’s financial accounts in order. No business, and no family, could survive borrowing 40 cents of every dollar spent for very long, but somehow the president and a majority of the U.S. Senate think we can borrow, borrow, borrow and count on the taxpayers to pay the bill for more and more spending. Washington does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.”

However, U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., said Congress must vote to raise the debt ceiling limit or risk financial disaster.

“Ultimately, the Congress must raise the debt ceiling,” Rahall said. “A failure to act would do enormous harm to the economy, driving up interest rates and potentially disrupting critical government payments to veterans and seniors, among others.”

 Rahall said some lawmakers are attempting to use the debt crisis debate to slash Social Security and harm veterans.

“This cooked up crisis for political gain is a backdoor maneuver to end our investment in everything from highways to veterans and Social Security as we know it,” Rahall said. “We need to keep our heads about us, but this latest scheme for a constitutional amendment, slashing the very things that could help our economy recover, tells me some members have completely lost theirs.”

While Rahall is vowing to vote to raise the debt ceiling, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., was still noncommittal Monday.

“I came to Washington to fix things and do what is right for the next generation, not the next election,” Manchin said. “As I said in March, I will not vote to raise the debt ceiling unless we also put a long-term plan in place to begin to fix this nation’s financial crisis, focusing on our priorities — like Social Security and Medicare — and starting to live within our means, like every West Virginian. At this point, I’m waiting to see the details of any plan to determine whether it accomplishes these goals before I vote.”

However, Manchin said there is “no excuse” for lawmakers not to come together in addressing the financial crisis.

“And it is just wrong to scare people by letting them believe that those in need will suffer, and I will not engage in scare tactics,” Manchin said. “That is why I have written to Treasury Secretary Geithner, urging him to make sure that — even in the worst case — this nation keeps its promises to our seniors.”

Allowing the United States to default would be devastating and dangerous for West Virginians and Americans, U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said.

“It’s irresponsible to play games with the debt ceiling,” Rockefeller said. “It would cost jobs, slash people’s retirement savings, raise mortgage payments for families, raise credit card interest rates, increase utility costs for every home, and drive up costs on everything from food to gasoline. It would also interrupt Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and veterans benefits, as well as payments for our troops. This is unacceptable. At the same time, our current spending is unsustainable. Just a few weeks ago, I announced 18 suggestions to reduce the deficit by more than $1 trillion in the fairest way possible, like closing special tax loopholes for large corporations and wealthy Americans.  We must look for real, sensible solutions that don’t cut the deficit on the backs of hardworking, struggling families.”

A failure by lawmakers to act by Aug. 2 could lead to economic disaster, according to U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.

“If we don’t act before Aug. 2, the smart money soon will begin to bet against us on world financial markets,” Warner said Monday. “Add that to financial upheaval in Europe, and you have a recipe for an economic disaster far worse than we faced in 2008. Unlike 2008, however, our nation has already used the traditional economic tools available to us. The federal reserve slashed interest rates, and Congress passed a fiscal stimulus, but the U.S. recovery remains weak. Every day that we fail to act we add more than $4 billion to the national debt.”

Warner said he intends to vote on raising the debt ceiling limit.

“I certainly intend to, but we’ll need to see what specific legislation actually comes to a vote,” Warner said. “Business leaders all tell me the same thing: failing to raise the debt ceiling will increase interest rates, gut consumer confidence, and drag down business investment and job creation. Every one-point increase in interest rates increases the national debt by $1.3 trillion over a 10-year period, and who knows how much interest rates could increase.”

U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., said he has “serious concerns” about raising taxes on ordinary income.

“During my time in the Senate, I have consistently opposed the notion of increasing revenues through raising taxes on ordinary, earned income — those amounts, whether large or small, that Americans take home as part of their everyday work and their basic compensation packages,” Webb said. “As the Congress works to resolve the current impasse on the deficit, I must again emphasize my belief that revenues should be raised by other means, including ending costly subsidies and tax loopholes or by adjusting such measures as capital gains.”

However, Webb said Monday that action on the debt crisis is still imperative to avoid downgrades to the U.S. credit rating or default on U.S. debt obligations.

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