Politicians Scramble With One Week Left Before Debt Deadline

The countdown clocks on the cable news channels are now ticking down the minutes in the one week remaining before the U.S. government will no longer be able to pay its debt.

Conservatives in the House yesterday panned speaker John Boehner's plan, as did Standard & Poor's, which said it probably wouldn't be enough to avert a downgrade in the U.S. credit rating.

But a similar plan in the Senate may not have enough votes to pass.