Byron Dorgan: “the Senator from Mississippi is absolutely correct that a logical place to increase the debt limit would be in a budget…”

“the Senator from Mississippi is absolutely correct that a logical place to increase the debt limit would be in a budget agreement, and if there is a budget agreement--and I hope there is--then obviously the debt limit should be increased in that agreement. The dilemma is, the Moody's organization last week served notice publicly, because of the potential of a default, because of the potential that perhaps the debt limit will not be extended, because of the potential that there might be some who want to use the debt limit as leverage, and the ultimate leverage, of course, being default if there is not a budget agreement, because of that, Moody's has indicated they are taking a look at whether to downgrade the creditworthiness of U.S. Government bonds. It seems to me that ought to be a warning to all of us that we ought not fool around with this question of the grading of Government bonds and the creditworthiness of Government bonds. This is a very important issue.”