On the recordMarch 7, 1996
If you do not pay your debt when it is due, if you do not pay the interest and principal when it is due, that is a default. And once you do that, that is when you have things like Moody's Investor Service, who say that the creditworthiness is in question. The U.S. creditworthiness would be brought into question. It already has been brought into question by the games this Congress is playing with the national debt if we do not pay our principal and interest. Second of all, if you do what you say and you roll over the interest and, therefore, turn it into principal by not paying it, you add to the national debt. So you do two things: You lower the creditworthiness, you raise the cost of capital, and you raise the debt.
Source
govinfo.gov
