Even After Passing Debt Bill Obama Administration Braces for S&P Downgrade

Back in mid-July The Blaze reported that Standard & Poor's was placing the U.S. on its negative CreditWatch monitoring system with the likelihood it would downgrade the nation's credit rating within 90 days. The reason, according to S&P, was that a failure of the government. to raise the nation's debt ceiling would increase the risk of a potential government-default. For S&P, more risk means less creditworthiness.  But now that a debt bill has finally been agreed to and signed into law, S&P might still seek to downgrade the nation's credit rating from AAA to AA+ or AA, and the Obama administration is reportedly even prepared for such an event.

ABC reports:

A government official tells ABC News that the federal government is expecting and preparing for bond rating agency Standard & Poor’s to downgrade the rating of US debt from its current AAA value.

Officials' reasons given will be the political confusion surrounding the process of raising the debt ceiling, and lack of confidence that the political system will be able to agree to more deficit reduction. A source says Republicans saying that they refuse to accept any tax increases as part of a larger deal will be part of the reason cited.

The official was unsure if the bond rating would be AA+ or AA.

Another government official confirms the Obama administration is preparing for the downgrade but is not 100% positive it’s going to happen, and if it does happen officials are not sure when it will happen.

However, The Blaze's previous report on negative CreditWatch states:

S&P reportedly believes continued delays in raising the debt ceiling could lead the agency to conclude that a U.S. default is “more possible” than “previously thought.”

However, the agency says that if congress and the administration “agree to raise the debt ceiling” it will try to review the details of the agreement within the next 90 days to “determine” whether it is “sufficient to stabilize” the U.S.’ medium-term debt dynamics.

While nothing is definitive yet, if S&P wanted the U.S. to raise its debt ceiling with a view to preserving the nation's current credit rating, then why would officials now cite Republican opposition to raising taxes as a reason for the pending downgrade?