by Patrick Appel
Howard Gleckman runs the numbers:
The [Bipartisan Policy Center] looked at what would happen if the government tried to preserve its bond rating by paying the $29 billion in interest it will owe on Treasury securities in August, and prioritized the rest of its spending. You might call this the Bachmann model of governing. Such a step would leave only about $143 billion to pay $277 billion in non-interest bills.
Let’s say Obama paid Social Security, unemployment, and veteran’s benefits, met the military payroll, and kept the courts and the FBI running. Those programs alone would take up about $70 billion, leaving only $73 billion to run the rest of government.
With those remaining funds, Washington would have to make some exceedingly unpleasant choices: It could pay doctors, hospitals, nursing homes, and home health agencies what it owed for Medicare and Medicaid services, but that would cost $50 billion and leave just $23 billion to pay all other bills—everybody from defense contractors to senior day care center operators to disaster relief.
Bloomberg Government has an interactive tool that lets you decide which payments to make.
The Dish 