A debt limit default looms. Here’s why the Pentagon should be concerned – By Joe Gould (Defense News) / Oct 4 2021
WASHINGTON ― The Pentagon, as of Monday, had not issued departmentwide guidance about the possibility of a debt limit default — an event experts say would be a chaotic foray into uncharted territory.
President Joe Biden accused Republican lawmakers on Monday of blocking efforts to increase the government’s borrowing authority, saying it poses a risk to Social Security benefits, troop salaries and veterans benefits.
“We’re going to have to raise the debt limit if we’re going to meet those obligations,” Biden said at the White House ahead of an Oct. 18 deadline to allow for more borrowing.
Both Biden and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have promised the country will avoid default, but their lack of progress risks an economic meltdown. It also raises questions about how the Treasury Department would pay the military’s vendors as well as its uniformed and civilian workforce ― along with the rest of the federal government ― if it cannot continue borrowing.
