![\"A](\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/QKUQSnI_v3H2j1dGd1HJ_S-QlXM=\/0x0:5673x3191\/320x180\/2023\/01\/27\/1674859250616.jpg?w=320)
<\/span>Secretary Yellen during a meeting with the President of Zambia Hakainde Hichilema in Washington, DC. Photo: Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Axios she is \u201cnervous\u201d about the U.S. defaulting on its debt and cautioned that Americans likely will face a scary and spiraling recession if Congress doesn\u2019t raise the debt ceiling this summer. <\/p>\n
Why it matters:<\/strong> Yellen\u2019s dark financial forecast is part of the Biden administration\u2019s attempt to put political pressure on the new House GOP majority to raise the debt ceiling without delay or hesitation. <\/p>\n What they are saying:<\/strong> “Of course, it makes me nervous,” Yellen told Axios from Johannesburg, South Africa, at the end of a 10-day trip across the continent. \u201cIt would be devastating. It’s a catastrophe.\u201d<\/p>\n Driving the news:<\/strong> The threat of a debt default<\/a> has shadowed Yellen’s trip to Africa, where on her first stop, in Dakar, she dismissed a Republican proposal<\/a> to prioritize debt payments.<\/p>\n Zoom in:<\/strong> Yellen\u2019s trip was designed to persuade Africans, including elected officials, business leaders, and farmers, that the U.S. is looking for a long-term relationship on everything from food security<\/a> to rural electrification<\/a>. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Zoom out:<\/strong> Like Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, a full-on U.S. default would have ripple effects across the globe, making it more expensive to borrow money in some of the world\u2019s poorest countries. <\/p>\n Between the lines:<\/strong> Yellen doesn\u2019t seem terribly keen to spend late nights negotiating the debt ceiling with new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R). <\/p>\n Be smart:<\/strong> By law, the treasury secretary is the nation’s bookkeeper. On the debt ceiling, she’s also the timekeeper.<\/p>\n Secretary Yellen during a meeting with the President of Zambia Hakainde Hichilema in Washington, DC. Photo: Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Axios she is \u201cnervous\u201d about the U.S. defaulting on its debt and cautioned that Americans likely will face a scary and spiraling recession if Congress doesn\u2019t raise the debt ceiling this …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[161],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47898"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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