Yellen Sends New Warning Letter About Default...to the Wrong Person

Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen sent yet another letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Monday afternoon, again warning that the United States is growing ever closer to defaulting on its debt unless a bill is passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden to increase the nation’s debt limit.

Notably, Yellen continues sending these letters to McCarthy — the man who, along with House Republicans, already passed a bill that would raise the debt ceiling and avoid default — while failing to dispatch similarly snide letters to President Biden or Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Perhaps a letter could have been sent to Biden scolding him for spending more than two months earlier this spring ignoring requests to negotiate from McCarthy as a default loomed? Or a letter to Leader Schumer asking why he and Democrats in the upper chamber didn’t put together any sort of a plan to avoid default?

Nope, all Yellen’s warnings go to Speaker McCarthy who clearly outpaced and outmaneuvered D.C. Democrats and partisan pundits by doing what many believed wouldn’t happen: passing a bill with only GOP support to avoid a default, raise the debt ceiling, and cap discretionary spending at FY 2022 levels that Democrats previously bragged about setting. In doing so, McCarthy forced Biden to negotiate as he realized he was losing the narrative.

In any case, Yellen ratcheted up the pressure with her latest missive to McCarthy by saying her department estimates “that it is highly likely that Treasury will no longer be able to satisfy all of the government’s obligations if Congress has not acted to raise or suspend the debt limit by early June, and potentially as early as June 1.”

New Yellen letter: "I am writing to note that we estimate that it is highly likely that Treasury will no longer be able to satisfy all of the government’s obligations if Congress has not acted to raise or suspend the debt limit by early June, and potentially as early as June 1." pic.twitter.com/8curdpnnEP

— Spencer Brown (@itsSpencerBrown) May 22, 2023