White House wars of econ. Armageddon

White House spokesman Jay Carney

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/174342.html

The White House has expressed grave concerns in case the congressional Republicans fail to raise the $14.29 trillion dollars debt limit by May 16, which would harm the country's crushing economy.

“The consequences ... of failure to raise the debt ceiling would be Armageddon-like in terms of the economy," AFP quoted White House spokesman Jay Carney as saying on Monday.

Carney added that the US President Barack Obama regrets his vote as a senator against raising the debt limit in 2006, adding that the issue is critical to both the US and the global economy.

In case the US's Republican-led congress fails to raise the amount the Treasury is allowed to borrow by May 16, the government would default on its interest payments.

Meanwhile, Republicans at the House of Representatives say that Obama has to agree to further budget cuts, other than the $39 billion agreed on Friday, in exchange for his demand over raising the debt limit.

On April 8, just an hour before the deadline to reach a compromise on spending cuts, Republican and Democratic lawmakers found common grounds on the issue to avert a government shutdown over the next six months.

If an agreement had not met before the deadline, the shutdown would have left some 800,000 federal workers unemployed, while affecting US nationals at home and abroad with heavy cuts in their paychecks.