Finance Experts Concur With Rokita, US Not Headed for Imminent Default

Press Release

Representative Todd Rokita released the following statement today regarding the current state of the debate over the statutory $16.7 trillion borrowing limit facing the nation.

"America will always pay its debts and it is unfortunate we cannot have an intellectually honest conversation about our debt and the debt limit without politically motivated hysterics and scare tactics. The only person with the power to force the United States into default on October 17 is President Barack Obama. Any reasonable analysis shows that we will not default on October 17. That said, it is absolutely essential that Congress and the White House come together to produce real, substantive reforms that reign in our out of control spending, bring the budget in to balance, and pay down our debt," said Rokita.

October 17 has been identified as the day the country's credit limit has been reached. Some have taken this fact as evidence that the United States will "default" on October 17. This is not correct, because the United States government collects approximately $200 billion each month, on average, in tax revenue while our national debt service is approximately $21 billion per month.

Therefore, the United States is in no imminent danger of defaulting -- a point that leading analysts of various ideologies have made as we approach the October 17 deadline.

Moody's Investors Service -- "There is no direct connection between the debt limit, which was reached last May, and a default"

Steven Rattner, former Obama economic advisor and car czar -- "We're not going to default on Wednesday. (without a deal to raise the debt ceiling)"

Larry Kudlow -- "We'll never default on treasuries."

Rokita, a member of the House Budget Committee and a cosponsor of the Full Faith & Credit Act, has routinely been on the record in support of paying the debt obligations of the country and has coauthored budget and spending reform legislation to balance the budget and reduce the debt.

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