The Debt Limit: Local Tweens Say They'd Pay

You might have heard about the latest government crisis in Washington D.C. revolving around the question of whether or not Congress should raise the limit of national debt above $14.3 trillion.

As an Aug. 2 deadline to raise the federal debt limit nears, some members of Congress have suggested they'd prefer default on its obligations rather than accept current proposals to both cut spending and eliminate tax loopholes. 

At the heart of the issue is a moral question: If you owed money to someone and needed to pay them back, what should you do? 

Mercer Island Patch put that question to a gathering of several students at the in the .

Pausing for a few moments from texting friends on their iPhones, 12-year-olds Claire Johnston, Alex Graham, Isaac Glasser, Emily Goldblatt and Ian Martin, 13, grappled with the ethics of paying someone back.

Check out their answers in the .