Mubasher: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen confirmed that the only good solution in the current crisis is for Congress to raise the US debt ceiling..
Yellen said, in an interview with “Bloomberg” television today, Friday: “What American households and companies and global markets need to see is a commitment from Congress to pay the obligations.”“.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Group of Seven meeting of financial officials in Niigata, Japan, Yellen said: “If Congress fails to do this, it really weakens our credit rating.”“.
Yellen declined to say what steps her department would take if Congress fails to raise or defer the debt ceiling before the Treasury Department finds itself unable to cover all of the government’s liabilities..
--President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy postponed a debt ceiling meeting scheduled for Friday, and people familiar with the talks said the delay was a sign that personnel talks were making progress..
Biden and congressional Republicans have been locked in disagreements for weeks over raising the US federal government’s borrowing limit of $31.4 trillion, and GOP leaders have demanded promises of future spending cuts before agreeing to a higher cap. On his part; Biden insisted on a “clean” increase, with budget talks going a separate track.
The government reached the legal maximum borrowing in January, and since then, the Treasury Department has been using special accounting measures to make cash available, and Yellen told Congress that these measures may expire on June 1..
