"We're continuing to spend money that we don’t have by an order of magnitude that we’ve never seen before. In all of my travels over South Carolina, New Hampshire, and Iowa it’s been fairly unanimous, Sean. People across the country and have said: 'Please stop the out of control spending and whatever you do, don’t increase the debt ceiling.' Because people see that under almost every scenario, President Obama gets this $2.1 trillion to spend and we’re giving $21 billion in cuts. And people are saying that's just not good enough and they want us to really change the ways of Washington and they're not seeing they're being listened to."
Aug. 1, 2011 Michele Bachmann

[Editor’s Note: On Aug. 1, 2011, Bachmann voted no on S. 365 (222 KB), which raised the national debt limit.]

"I did not agree with raising the debt ceiling, because the solution that they came up with does not solve the problem, as Representative Bachmann talks about.

The way to deal with it is pay those things that need to be paid and then make the tough choices of cutting the other things, agency by agency, program by program, based upon performance metrics. We didn‘t need to raise the debt ceiling, but there was an easy way out, and the problem still has not been solved."
Aug. 11, 2011 Herman Cain

"[US Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell's [debt ceiling increase] plan is an irresponsible surrender to big government, big deficits and continued overspending."
July 12, 2011 Newt Gingrich

"I was the only candidate who stood up on the debt ceiling debate and said this country shouldn't default. We should cut a deal that allows us not to default. We're 25 percent of the world's GDP.”
Sep. 4, 2011 Jon Huntsman

"While it is good to see serious debate about our debt crisis, I cannot support the reported deal on raising the nation's debt ceiling. I have never voted to raise the debt ceiling, and I never will.

This deal will reportedly cut spending by only slightly over $900 billion over 10 years. But we will have a $1.6 trillion deficit after this year alone, meaning those meager cuts will do nothing to solve our unsustainable spending problem. In fact, this bill will never balance the budget. Instead, it will add untold trillions of dollars to our deficit…

I believe in the great American traditions of free markets, sound money, and personal Liberty. But we are moving far away from what made us the greatest nation in human history. We must cut spending and balance our budget now, before it is too late.

[I]f we continue to print money and pyramid debt, we will destroy ourselves and lose the promise of America forever...

These difficult times require a President willing to stand against runaway spending. If elected, I will veto any spending bill that contributes to an unbalanced budget, and I will balance the budget in the first year of my term. I will not allow the Federal Reserve to destroy the value of our money by shoveling dollars into the pockets of its banker friends."
Aug. 1, 2011 Ron Paul

"If I'd been in Congress I wouldn't have voted for [the Aug. 2, 2011 Budget Control Act of 2011]. Cut cap and balance was the approach to take, and it was a bunch of political theater from my perspective. We got downgraded anyway, so why give a spend-it-all, spend-it-now president $2.4 trillion he can fritter away? I don't get it."
Aug. 15, 2011 Rick Perry

"We should have balanced the budget. The balanced budget amendment should have been the focus from the beginning. To suggest that we never need to raise the debt ceiling, that — that is, again, showmanship, not leadership. Of course we have to raise the debt ceiling at some point. We have — we have — we're borrowing 42 cents of every dollar, 42 cents of every dollar. You‘re going to cut 42 cents of every dollar? Just to remind you, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, defense, and interest on the debt is 60 percent. That means cut everything else and something of those. That's showmanship, not leadership."
Aug. 11, 2011 Rick Santorum