Ratings agency Moody’s on Thursday warned it would consider cutting the US’ coveted top-notch credit rating if the White House and Congress do not make progress by the middle of next month in talks to raise the US debt limit.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, seeking to convince Congress to increase his borrowing authority and prevent a government default, went to Capitol Hill to press his case in a 45-minute meeting with first-term lawmakers.
“I am confident that two things are going to happen this summer,” Geithner told reporters after the meeting. “One is that we are going to avoid a default crisis and we are going to reach agreement on a long-term fiscal plan.”
The meeting occurred just hours after Moody’s Investors warned that slow-moving deficit talks led by US Vice President Joe Biden, hindered by entrenched positions on both sides, had increased the odds of a short-lived default by Washington.
Moody’s warning increases pressure on US President Barack Obama and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in the US Congress, to strike a deal soon or risk upsetting global financial markets.
Geithner has predicted a financial catastrophe if Congress fails to increase the current US$14.3 trillion borrowing cap by Aug. 2, when his department will exhaust the extraordinary cash management measures it has been using since reaching the debt limit on May 16.
Geithner said he had a “good meeting” with the first-term lawmakers, but some of the skeptical Republicans, who oppose increasing the debt limit without implementing deep spending cuts, were less pleased.
“It is frustrating when the secretary talks in circles and that is very unfortunate,” Representative Stephen Lee Fincher said. “We are all big boys and girls. We need a framework put forward and we are not seeing that out of this administration, only seeing talk, talk and talk.”
Saying the risk of “continuing stalemate” between the two sides had grown, Moody’s urged progress on deficit reduction soon before politics takes over in the run-up to the presidential election in November next year.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique