Ratings agency Fitch put US credit on negative watch on Wednesday, as lawmakers struggled to reach an agreement on the debt ceiling before the country defaulted.
America’s AAA rating, the highest possible rating, has been put on notice for a potential downgrade if the White House and Republicans fail to raise the debt limit.
The view of negative ratings comes just a week before June 1, the earliest possible date by which Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said the US may not be able to meet all the defaults. y payment obligation to pay.
“As Secretary Yellen has warned for months, brinkmanship on the debt limit is hurting American businesses and families, raising short-term borrowing costs for taxpayers, and threatening the United States’ credit rating. ,” Treasury spokeswoman Lily Adams said in a statement.
“Tonight’s warning underscores the need for swift bipartisan action in Congress to raise or suspend the debt limit and avoid a manufactured crisis for our economy,” he added.
A White House spokesman similarly said in a statement that seeing the negative ratings is “one more piece of evidence that default is not an option.”
“This reinforces the need for Congress to quickly pass a reasonable, bipartisan agreement to avoid default,” the White House spokesman added.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Wednesday that debt ceiling talks have reached a “breaking point,” while also acknowledging that “some progress” has been made in negotiations.
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