US Treasury chief rejects Moody's downgrade amid tax-cut debate

Kuwait Times

19-05-2025

Downgrade could complicate Trump's efforts to cut taxes, send ripples through markets
WASHINGTON: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday dismissed Moody's downgrade of the US sovereign credit rating, as the Republican-controlled Congress tried to push ahead on President Donald Trump's sweeping tax-cut bill. Bessent, in a pair of television interviews, said the bill's provisions extending the 2017 tax cuts passed under Trump's first term would spur economic growth that would outpace what the nation owed, even as nonpartisan analysts warn the measure it would add trillions to the federal government's $36.2 trillion in debt. Moody's downgraded the US sovereign credit rating on Friday due to concerns about the nation's growing debt pile, in a move that could complicate President Donald Trump's efforts to cut taxes and send ripples through global markets.
'I don't put much credence in the Moody's' downgrade, Bessent told CNN's 'State of the Union' program. The House of Representatives Budget Committee on Friday rejected the bill, with a handful of Republican hardliners saying they were concerned it did not sufficiently cut spending.
House Speaker Mike Johnson separately said on Sunday the chamber is still 'on track' to pass the bill. The committee was set to try again in a rare Sunday night hearing (0200 GMT Monday). 'We've had lots of conversations. We'll have more today,' Johnson said on 'Fox News with Shannon Bream' when asked about hard-line Republicans Chip Roy and Ralph Norman demanding more spending cuts.
Congressional Republicans in 2017 also argued that the tax cuts would pay for themselves by stimulating economic growth. But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the changes increased the federal deficit by just under $1.9 trillion over a decade, even when including positive economic effects.
Moody's first gave the United States its pristine 'Aaa' rating in 1919 and is the last of the three major credit agencies to downgrade it. Friday's cut by one notch to 'Aa1' follows a change in 2023 in the agency's outlook on the sovereign due to wider fiscal deficits and higher interest payments.
'Successive US administrations and Congress have failed to agree on measures to reverse the trend of large annual fiscal deficits and growing interest costs,' Moody's said on Friday, as it changed its outlook on the US to 'stable' from 'negative.'
The announcement drew criticism from people close to Trump. Stephen Moore, former senior economic advisor to Trump and an economist at Heritage Foundation, called the move 'outrageous'. 'If a US backed government bond isn't triple A-asset then what is?' he told Reuters.
White House communications director Steven Cheung reacted to the downgrade via a social media post, singling out Moody's economist, Mark Zandi, for criticism. He called Zandi a political opponent of Trump. Zandi declined to comment. Zandi is the chief economist at Moody's Analytics, which is a separate entity from the credit ratings agency Moody's.
Since his return to the White House on January 20, Trump has said he would balance the budget while his Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, has repeatedly said the current administration aims to lower US government funding costs. But the administration's attempts to raise revenue and cut spending have so far failed to persuade investors.
Trump's attempts to cut spending through Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency have fallen far short of its initial goals. And attempts to raise revenue through tariffs have sparked concerns about a trade war and global slowdown, roiling markets.
Left unchecked, such worries could trigger a bond market rout and hinder the administration's ability to pursue its agenda. The downgrade, which came after market close, sent yields on Treasury bonds higher, and analysts said it could give investors a pause when markets re-open for regular trading on Monday. 'It basically adds to the evidence that the United States has too much debt,' said Darrell Duffie, a Stanford finance professor who was formerly on Moody's board. 'Congress is just going to have to discipline itself, either get more revenues or spend less.' — Reuters