U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) arrives prior to Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s address to a joint meeting of Congress on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, July 19, 2023.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
WASHINGTON — Sen. Joe Manchin on Thursday called on his colleagues to take sorely needed budgetary steps to strengthen the economy after Fitch credit analysts’ recent decision to downgrade the US’ long-held foreign issuer default rating.
Fitch downgraded the U.S. credit standing from AA+ to AAA on Tuesday, months after having placed the nation’s rating on negative watch in May. The credit standing firm cited the U.S. government’s lengthy debt ceiling debate, together with the Jan. 6, 2021 riot on the U.S. Capitol, in its decision.
The West Virginia Democrat a member of the Appropriations Committee, called the move “a stark warning that can’t be ignored.”
“While you take a look at 21 years that we have now spent greater than we have taken in … Democrats and Republicans are guilty,” Manchin told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday. “And we have got to repair this, and we’re not taking it seriously.”
He added that the U.S. is heading toward a “fiscal cliff” if lawmakers don’t heed Fitch’s “warning shot.”
“I welcome the … news that Fitch has given us to get our government, our funding, or financial house so as, in the event you will, and take it (seriously), and put other things in perspective,” Manchin said.
“We do not even do a risk management, we do nothing in any respect until we get to the fiscal cliff every yr,” he added.
Manchin said the “toxic” atmosphere in Congress only lifts when a bipartisan agreement is reached to spend more cash.
“While you think the last time that we actually passed a budget on time, by September 30, was 1997 … you are talking about $5.5 trillion of debt, which I believed was horrendous at the moment,” he said.
And now we’re at $32.5 trillion.”
Manchin’s warning comes a day after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called the Fitch downgrade decision “entirely unwarranted” based on a “flawed assessment.”