Yellen Renews Debt-Limit Plea With August Default Possible (1)

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said her department may exhaust emergency measures to avoid breaching the U.S. debt limit as soon as August unless Congress acts to avert a potential default that would be “catastrophic.”

“Defaulting on the national debt should be regarded as unthinkable,” Yellen said Wednesday before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on her department’s budget.

“Failing to increase the debt limit would have absolutely catastrophic economic consequences,” she added. “It would precipitate a financial crisis. It would threaten the jobs and savings of Americans -- and at a time when we’re still recovering from the Covid pandemic.”

The ...