‘Raise or Suspend’ Debt Limit, Tech Groups Urge Congress

Congress should “raise or suspend” the debt limit as it has done about 80 times since 1960 “and protect the full faith and credit” of the U.S., five tech associations wrote the House and Senate leadership Monday. Defaulting on the government’s obligations “could undermine the U.S. dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency, spark an economic downturn, increase future deficits, and threaten the status of Treasury bonds as the world’s safest asset,” said the Information Technology Industry Council, Internet Association, Semi, Semiconductor Industry Association and TechNet: “Even the threat of default could cause a further downgrade in the U.S. credit rating, which would not only imperil the fragile economic recovery, but raise debt costs for millions of businesses and consumers.”