US officials warn of failing to raise debt ceiling

Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget at the US White House, warned Thursday that countries such as China and Russia would capitalize on the “chaos” that would ensue if the United States defaulted on its debt and use it as evidence that democracy was dysfunctional. Young was echoing concerns expressed earlier in the day by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines before a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. Haines told senators that, in the case of a U.S. default, it would be “almost a certainty that [China and Russia] would look to take advantage of the opportunity” to demonstrate “that we’re not capable of functioning as a democracy,” according to Washington Post. At the White House news briefing Thursday, Young said that U.S. competitors love to see the partisan fighting over debt ceiling negotiations and stressed again that “Congress needs to do its job.”

Source: Jordan News Agency