The US Lost Its AAA Credit Rating—and the White House Is Taking No Responsibility

The federal government is facing a fiscal reckoning, but all the Biden Administration can do is point fingers.

<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joe_Biden_(48573573437).jpg">Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America</a>, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons

For the second time in its history, the United States saw its AAA rating on long-term debt downgraded by a credit rating firm.

Fitch Ratings said the downgrade of the U.S., which is now rated AA+, “reflects the expected fiscal deterioration over the next three years, a high and growing general government debt burden, and the erosion of governance relative to 'AA' and 'AAA' rated peers over the last two decades that has manifested in repeated debt limit standoffs and last-minute resolutions.”

In the wake of the downgrade, the first since S&P downgraded the U.S. in 2011 amid a similar debt-ceiling showdown, Democratic politicians and White House officials immediately attacked both Republicans and Fitch.

“The downgrade by Fitch shows that House Republicans’ reckless brinksmanship and flirting with default has negative consequences for the country,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen slammed Fitch, calling the decision “flawed” and “entirely unwarranted.” She was echoed by press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

“It defies reality to downgrade the United States at a moment when President Biden has delivered the strongest recovery of any major economy in the world,” Jean-Pierre said. (CNN inexplicably blamed the downgrade on Jan. 6, even though Fitch in its report made no mention of the event, which happened 2 1/2 years ago.)

Perhaps such a reaction should not surprise us. Pointing fingers and blaming others is what politicians do best. Yet pointing fingers will not change a troubling reality: The federal government is facing a fiscal reckoning.

READ the rest of this op-ed at The Washington Examiner.