ICYMI: FORMER SECRETARIES OF THE TREASURY PEN BIPARTISAN LETTER ON URGENCY OF RAISING DEBT CEILING
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 22, 2021
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ICYMI: FORMER SECRETARIES OF THE TREASURY PEN BIPARTISAN LETTER ON URGENCY OF RAISING DEBT CEILING
Bipartisan group calls on Congress to raise debt ceiling “without delay”
Washington, D.C. — Today, in a letter sent to Congressional leadership, a bipartisan group of former U.S. Secretaries of the Treasury urged Congress to “move swiftly” and raise the debt ceiling “without delay.” The letter underlined the serious “economic and national security harm” that could be inflicted if a default is not averted in time.
“The Republican Party’s willingness to threaten the stability of our economy and the recovery from the pandemic by refusing to join Democrats to raise the debt is not just reckless but deeply hypocritical,” said Building Back Together Executive Director Danielle Melfi. “Republicans in Congress voted multiple times to raise the debt ceiling under the previous Administration, and experts across the political spectrum agree that leaders in Congress must act with urgency to protect the full faith and credit of our country and the pocketbooks of everyday Americans.”
Key highlights from the letter:
- “As former Treasury secretaries, we write to express our deep sense of urgency that Congressional leadership, working with the Administration and the President, move swiftly to initiate and complete a viable legislative process necessary to raise the debt limit.”
- “Failing to address the debt limit, and allowing an unprecedented default, could cause serious economic and national security harm.”
- “Even a short-lived default could threaten economic growth. It creates the risk of roiling markets, and of sapping economic confidence, and it would prevent Americans from receiving vital services.”
- “Short of actual default, even delaying resolution until default is imminent can be detrimental…An accidental default could occur if the debt limit is not raised in time. And there is no viable way to manage payments across the federal government to prevent a default if there are insufficient resources available absent action on the debt limit.”
Read the full letter from former Secretaries of the Treasury Michael Blumenthal, Henry Paulson, Robert Rubin, Timothy Geithner, Lawrence Summers, and Jacob Lew, here.