President Barack Obama expressed outrage over the continued standoff and inaction in Congress over increasing the federal government’s debt ceiling to avert a government shutdown and economic chaos. …

The president’s outrage — and that of most congressional Democrats, some clear-thinking Republicans and a majority of level-headed Americans — is absolutely justified.

The political gamesmanship spearheaded by Grand Old Party extremists has produced no winners, only an embarrassing do-nothing loser of a Congress that has brought the stability of government operations and the slow but steady recovery of the U.S. economy to the doorstep of disaster. …

Some Republicans today are threatening to hold up raising the debt ceiling and passing a federal budget if elements of the Affordable Care Act are funded as a part of it. Obama said Republicans are effectively holding the government hostage by threatening to defund his signature health care reform victory. …

Wasting congressional time on meaningless Obamacare antics does nothing toward taking care of the nation’s pressing business. Little is more pressing now than ensuring government solvency.

The ripple effects from congressional inaction on the budget and debt ceiling would trickle down to communities large and small and invite a return to the disastrous recessionary times out of which we are finally beginning to climb.

The (Youngstown) Vindicator