Manchin attributes US credit rating downgrade to 'historic failure of leadership by both political parties and the Executive branch'

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has asserted that Fitch Ratings' move to downgrade America's credit rating resulted from a "failure of leadership."

"The downgrading of America's credit rating by Fitch represents a historic failure of leadership by both political parties and the Executive branch," Manchin said in a statement. "The credit agency specifically cited the decline in governance, erosion of cooperation in the federal government and ballooning national debt when making the determination to lower our credit rating. This is a stark warning that cannot be ignored.

"We must act now to fully fund the government and address our national debt before we wake up to a future where America's superpower status is in jeopardy and we have lost the confidence of our allies around the world. Every American will suffer if Washington politics get in the way of long-term solutions that address these challenges," the Democrat declared.

Manchin made the statement in response to the news that Fitch had downgraded the U.S. from an AAA to an AA+ rating.

"FitchRatings has downgraded the United States of America's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'AA+' from 'AAA'," Fitch noted. "The rating downgrade of the United States reflects the expected fiscal deterioration over the next three years, a high and growing general government debt burden, and the erosion of governance relative to 'AA' and 'AAA' rated peers over the last two decades that has manifested in repeated debt limit standoffs and last-minute resolutions."

The Biden administration has been critical of the downgrade decision.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen voiced her staunch disagreement with the move, calling it "entirely unwarranted."

"We strongly disagree with this decision," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. "The ratings model used by Fitch declined under President Trump and then improved under President Biden, and it defies reality to downgrade the United States at a moment when President Biden has delivered the strongest recovery of any major economy in the world."

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