On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew urged lawmakers to raise the government’s debt limit or face the consequences of sustained damage to the U.S. economy and by extension the rest of the world economy.
Lew, who testified before the Senate Finance Committee said, if Congress didn’t meet its responsibility to raise the debt ceiling to meet obligations already incurred, the ongoing economic recovery would be halted, jobs and savings of millions of Americans would be jeopardized and deep damage to financial markets would result.
“No Congress in 224 years of American history has allowed our country to default, and it’s my sincere hope that this Congress will not be the first,” he said.
Lew rejected the idea, pushed by some in the GOP that the U.S. could prioritize its payments in the near term, in the absence of raising the debt-ceiling. He said this would amount to a default on the unpaid debts and the automated systems were not designed to pick and choose which debts would be paid and which would not.
