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House Ways And Means Committee To Consider Debt Prioritisation Legislation

US

10:00 ET 15:00 GMT: The House Ways and Means committee will today consider Republican legislation to prioritise federal debt repayments in the event of a default.

  • Full text and livestream here: https://waysandmeans.house.gov/event/markup-of-h-r...
  • Washington Post reports the bill, which introduces a tiered list of debt priorities, would "serve as an emergency road map, which GOP leaders say would technically prevent a default."
  • WaPo: "The measure, dubbed the Default Prevention Act, would allow the government to continue borrowing to make payments on existing debt as party lawmakers look to calm jittery bond markets and protect the country in the event of a fiscal crisis.”
  • Punchbowl News notes that legislation to allow the Treasury Department to continue paying bondholders has been “quietly floated by Wall Street and Republicans for years but forcefully denied by the Treasury Department as a viable option.”
  • Treasury Department Spokesperson Michael Kikukawa said the GOP proposal puts “wealthy, foreign bondholders," over "working Americans."
  • Brian Riedl at the Manhattan Institute warned that the government doesn't have the technology to implement the system, “Unless they can build a new system in the next four months, it doesn’t matter.”

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