



Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) predicted Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) would fold before the United States reaches its borrowing limit on Oct. 17.

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“Let me make a prediction: When we get close to debt ceiling, he will have to break with the Tea Party,” Schumer said Monday on CNN’s “New Day.”

Schumer asserted that breaching the debt ceiling, which the Treasury Department predicted could cause a recession larger than the 2008 financial collapse, would be so bad that Boehner would have no choice but to relent.

“The debt ceiling is such a calamitous possibility that you could go into a recession or even a depression worse than Lehman Brothers and AIG in 2008, that he will have no choice,” Schumer said.

Boehner insisted Sunday he would not agree to raise the debt ceiling without concessions from the White House on spending, though he did not mention delaying or defunding ObamaCare as a demand.

President Obama says he wouldn't negotiate with Republicans until they raise the debt ceiling and open the government. Boehner criticized Obama Sunday for not talking to House Republicans.

Boehner said Sunday there are not enough votes in the House to pass a clean debt ceiling increase. He has also said there aren't votes in the House to pass a clean government funding bill, something Democrats and the White House dispute.

"We are not going down that path of passing a clean debt limit; it's time to deal with America's problems," Boehner said.