Brain Trust - Brian Darling

Brian Darling, Senior Fellow for Government Studies at the Heritage Foundation, talks about the balanced budget amendment.

The Republicans want Cut, Cap, and Balance. What are the chances that we should could get this?

Those are three conditions that conservatives have put out there before they raise the debt ceiling.

Some people have said that Aug. 2nd date is false. Is there basis for that?

It's a real date in the sense that there are obligations that have to be met on August 3rd.

Clearly there's going to be a deficit in that there will be more obligations than money in the coffers.

There's a dispute as to where you have to draw the line.

The president has said that Social Security checks may not go out if there's not a deal. Would he really do that?

That's the bottom line.

I think the problem is they haven't been in the situation before.

I don't think anyone actually believes that some resolution won't happen.

I know that some Republicans are very concerned about this plan by Senate Republicans.

Some conservatives have said balanced budget amendment is a bad idea.

There have been massive improvements from the Contract for America version.

Do you have any predictions?

I think a lot of panicking.

I think you're just going to see ideas coming out of left field, right field.

We're at least, at a minimum, going to see the House and Senate debating balancing our budget.

How significant is our AAA status?

They're not saying they're going to downgrade the United States.

I don't think the world and the bondholders are going to worry about it.

Everything should work out. People should take a deep breath.

I would expect the stock market to take wild swings next week.

People shouldn't overreact and think that our economy is going to have a downturn.