Video: Barack Obama issues US debt ceiling warning to Republicans President Barack Obama demanded that Congress quickly raise the US federal debt limit and warned that he will not allow the Republican opposition to "collect a ransom for crashing the US economy," as he set out a tough negotiating position on an issue that threatens to shut down the American government. Mr Obama displayed the get-tough stance toward Congress a week before he is sworn in for a second term. Democratic critics of the president in his first term had voiced serious reservations about his willingness to give ground to Republicans on the debt ceiling issue two years ago, after a huge partisan fight resulted in an unprecedented downgrading of America's credit rating and left in place across-the-board tax cuts established during the George W. Bush administration. This time around, President Obama said Republicans who want to dramatically cut spending in return for raising US borrowing limits "will not collect a ransom in exchange for not crashing the economy." The full faith and credit of the United States of America is not a bargaining chip. And they better decide quickly because time is running short," Mr Obama declared, insisting, "We are not a deadbeat nation."