WASHINGTON, April 5 (UPI) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Tuesday the recent recession would "look modest" next to a failure to raise the national debt ceiling.
Talking to senators on the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, under the Appropriations Committee, Geithner said the U.S. defaulting on its debt "would make the crisis we went through look modest in comparison," The Hill newspaper reported.
Geithner sent senators a letter Monday outlining his concern over a possible failure to lift the debt ceiling, which Geithner said the government is likely to hit in mid-May.
But his language was stronger speaking to panel members. "As I said in my recent letters and as all my predecessors have said, the consequences of that would be catastrophic to the United States," if Congress failed to allow further borrowing, Geithner said.
