US ‘Has to Default’ on Something If Debt Ceiling Isn’t Raised Before Deadline: Yellen

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifies about the Biden Administration's FY2024 federal budget proposal before the Senate Finance Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 16, 2023. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The U.S. government will have to default on some payments if Congress fails to raise the national debt ceiling before June, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.

“If Congress fails to do that, it really impairs our credit rating. We have to default on some obligation, whether it’s Treasuries or payments to Social Security recipients,” Yellen said on Friday in an interview with Bloomberg.