The political battle over the United States' debt situation will "continue to play out over the next several months," U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer told Jefferson City Downtown Rotary Club members Monday.
Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth, said President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, came close to negotiating an agreement to resolve the national debt ceiling issue, but U.S. Senate Democrats blocked the bill - forcing congressional leaders to write and pass a different plan, leading to the Standard and Poor's bond ratings firm downgrading the U.S. government rating from AAA to AA+.
"The concern that I think everybody should have with regard to the debt-limit situation and the downgrade," Luetkemeyer told about 40 people at the Rotary Club's noon luncheon, "is that with (only one firm acting), it would be a small downgrade - more like a wake-up call for us than a kick in the gut."