Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says he's "absolutely" sure that Congress will raise the debt limit in time to prevent a default by the federal government. 
 
 "Congress will raise the debt ceiling," Geithner predicted in an interview aired Sunday on ABC's "This Week." 
 
 "You sure about that?" host Christiane Amanpour asked. 
 
 "Absolutely," Geithner replied. 
 
 Geithner said the consequences of failing to raise the debt limit, and an ensuing default, would be worse than the deep recession the country is still climbing out of. 
 
 "We’d tip the U.S. economy and the world economy back into recession, depression," he said. "It would make the last crisis look like a tame, modest crisis. It would have a permanent devastating damage on our creditworthiness as a country." 
 
 Geithner said "no responsible person" would court that kind of "tragedy," but in what may have been an allusion to President Barack Obama's 2006 vote as an Illinois senator against increasing the debt limit, the Treasury secretary added: "There's been a little bit of a tradition that people play politics with this." 
 
 Last week, Obama said his opposition to a debt limit raise in 2006 was a mistake. ||||| Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said on Sunday the "Gang of Six" senators is "very close" to a deal on deficit reduction, suggesting the plan would affect Social Security in way most Democrats have said is off limits. 
 
 "We're going to make everybody mad with our approach," Warner said on CBS's "Face the Nation," "because we're touching every part of the problem." 
 
 Warner, who is part of the three Democrats negotiating with three Republicans to reach a bipartisan deal, said the group is "looking at making Social Security more sustainable." 
 
 
 
 Asked by host Bob Schieffer to clarify that the group will take on Social Security, Warner said, "Part of this is just math: Sixteen workers for every one retiree 50 years ago, three workers for every retiree now." 
 
 With President Barack Obama proposing new talks after laying out his vision on the issue last week, and House Republicans passing their own plan, Warner said he hopes the "Gang of Six" will stake out the middle ground. 
 
 Warner said "everything" was on the table, including tax increases, spending cuts and entitlement reforms. 
 
 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), however, has repeatedly said Social Security must be left alone, and Republicans have flatly refused to back any tax increases. So, it's unclear whether any plan the group agrees on will gain much traction. 
 
 "What I hope is that this doesn't devolve into a Democrats versus Republicans again," Warner said, adding that Congress should start with a "bipartisan plan and build out." 
 
 Still, he warned Republicans not to "roll the dice" on the $14.3 trillion debt limit, saying failing to do increase the limit would "literally be lighting the match that can burn down the house." ||||| Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Sunday he would be ticked off if one of his grandchildren got the kind of pat-down search a 6-year-old girl was subjected to earlier this month at an airport security checkpoint in New Orleans. 
 
 "I have nine grandchildren and I wouldn’t want my granddaughter treated like that," LaHood said on "Fox News Sunday." 
 
 The video of the New Orleans search has provoked outrage from some in Congress and in the public, but others have warned that failing to search children thoroughly would give terrorists an easy opening to try to attack an aircraft. 
 
 LaHood said he would leave a detailed discussion of the episode to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and its administrator, John Pistole. LaHood later elaborated on his position: 
 
 "Of course, I support everything Administrator Pistole is doing to ensure our air passengers' safety," LeHood said in a statement. "We know terrorists are willing to manipulate societal norms to evade detection, so I appreciate the fact that TSA officers are working with parents to ensure a respectful screening process for the entire family." 
 
 The TSA has said that less than 3 percent of the traveling public require a patdown as part of its secondary screening process
– Congress is "absolutely" going to raise the debt ceiling, says Tim Geithner, because to do otherwise would be "catastrophic" and "the responsible people understand." "We’d tip the US economy and the world economy back into recession, depression," he said. "It would make the last crisis look like a tame, modest crisis." He says Republicans are quietly signaling that they'll vote for the hike. As for a certain boss of his who voted against raising the debt ceiling in 2006: "There's been a little bit of a tradition that people play politics with this." Elsewhere on the Sunday dial, as per Politico: Paul Ryan told Face the Nation he wants "financial controls ... in conjunction with raising the national debt limit." Asked to clarify, Ryan said, "We're not really interested in negotiating with the media." "Gang of 6" members Mark Warner and Tom Coburn say their group is "very close" to a deficit deal. "We're going to make everybody mad with our approach," Warner said. "Because we're touching every part of the problem." Congress has to put its money where its mouth is, says Coburn: "What the country needs to hear is that we understand how big this problem is and that we’re wiling to lose elections to do what’s best for the country." Ray LaHood says the patdown of a 6-year-old was unacceptable: "I have nine grandchildren and I wouldn’t want my granddaughter treated like that."