Citing dysfunction in the federal government and no long-term plan to deal with increasing debt, the credit agency Moody’s lowered its rating for US sovereign debt to negative, a move that may make it more difficult and expensive for the government to borrow money, the Washington Post reports.
Maintaining America’s credit rating at its highest AAA rating, Moody’s is the only one of the three major rating agencies to do so: both Fitch and Standard & Poor’s downgraded the US long-term credit rating after the Republicans pushed the government close to shutdown by refusing to raise the debt ceiling this summer.
“Continued political polarization within US Congress raises the risk that successive governments will not be able to reach consensus on a fiscal plan to slow the decline in debt affordability,” Moody’s said in a statement. Should Republicans push for another shutdown at the end of the month as the last deal expires, Moody’s will most likely follow the others and complete the trifecta.