The Hill News

The time for political gamesmanship about raising our national debt ceiling is over. Congress has the responsibility and the duty to address our debt ceiling without further delay. If US debt is downgraded, depending on how and to what extent a downgrade is announced, markets will certainly price in higher rates for Treasury securities and those higher rates will bleed through the broader economy.

Default with a downgrade is a game changer, though, with dire consequences for money funds, capital markets and banking systems broadly. It will be a systemic event in its own right.

America needs to get its fiscal house in order, there is no doubt of that. The ballooning of our national debt is proof enough that federal budgets must come back under control, and Congress must work to address our fiscal situation.

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