The July 13 edition of Fox & Friends purported to “fact check” President Obama's recent statement that he could not “guarantee” that checks for programs such as disability benefits would be issued if the debt limit is not raised. During the segment, the on-screen graphics asked if Obama was “exploiting the elderly” and using “scare tactic[s]” to pressure Congress into raising the debt ceiling.
As Media Matters has noted, economic experts agree that failure to increase the debt limit would force the federal government to prioritize its legal obligations and strain its ability to pay Social Security benefits. From Fox & Friends: