Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said Saturday that the default would confirm Chinese President Xi Jinping’s assessment of a broken American political system as the White House and Congress negotiate over the roof of the debt amid the possibility of default.
“The worst thing we could do is default. It would confirm Xi Jinping’s assessment that we have a flawed and broken political system, that we cannot solve our most basic challenges, and it would weaken us in the eyes of the rest of the world,” he said Coons on MSNBC’s “Velshi.” ”
“So why would it be bad by default?” he asked. “It would hurt all Americans at home and abroad.”
The clock is ticking on the issue, as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that her department could run out of steps to prevent a default as early as June 1.
A default “would cost 8 million jobs, put our economy into recession and affect our standing in the world,” Coons told MSNBC. “This week in the Appropriations Committee where I serve, we had the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of Commerce before our full committee debating what we should do to make America stronger in the face of the Chinese threat .”
President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) have met to negotiate the debt ceiling, but while the White House wants a net increase in the debt limit, House Republicans are pushing for a increase linked to spending cuts. Biden is considering using the 14th Amendment to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling, without Congress.
“It’s as bad as it is because the United States benefits from the fact that, for the rest of the world, investing in our Treasury instruments, in the borrowing done by the US government, by our Treasury Department, is considered the safest place to put their money, not just in the United States, but for the rest of the world,” Coons said Saturday.
The senator stressed that Yellen and other economic leaders have predicted major consequences if the nation defaults on its debt and urged McCarthy to “take default off the table.”
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“Many times over the last decade, we’ve had a federal government shutdown when we can’t come to an agreement between the parties. That’s bad enough to shut down the federal government. … but it’s not catastrophic. The default would be catastrophic.” added.
“I’m concerned that if we don’t have a reasonable and responsible deal on the table and we can start voting this next week, we’re going to miss that window and go into default.”
-Updated at 8:06 am
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