"It's time for Washington to work for us and not the corporations and the millionaires."
"We can't afford to be a divided nation like this, it is not republicans and democrats, it is one nation."
But most here blamed republicans for the deadlock over raising the debt ceiling. According to an exclusive Action News poll conducted by SurveyUSA 36 percent of Californians felt republicans would be responsible for a default. 20 percent blamed democrats, but a majority of 43 percent blamed both parties.
A common sentiment among this mostly democratic crowd is that republicans are willing to destroy the economy in order to hurt the president.
"It looks frighteningly to me like they are willing to bring the country down in order to bring the president down."
"Washington cannot continue spending money it does not have. We can all agree that this debt crisis is not something this country can afford and we need to solve it now," said Congressman Jeff Denham. "I am currently reviewing the proposal put forward but have not seen a legislative plan from the President."
Reached by phone in Washington, Tulare Republican Congressman Devin Nunes blamed the president for the deadlock. "Essentially, the president wants a default because the economy is in such bad shape after trillions of dollars of his spending and there's nothing he can do to fix it so he wants to default so we can get to a point where he can turn around and blame somebody else for the problems."
So, as the finger pointing continues in Washington, a vote is expected on speaker John Boehner's plan to cut spending Wednesday. Democratic Congressman Jim Costa of Fresno told Action News there is no support among democrats for Boehners bill and many republicans are balking as well.
Despite the conflict, the SurveyUSA poll shows 66 percent of those surveyed believe both sides will find a way to avoid default.
