Treasury Department: Failure to Lift Debt Limit Would Be Worse Than Recession

Feds refuse to avoid default without debt ceiling going up

The U.S. Treasury Department is warning that the economy could plunge into a downturn worse than the Great Recession if Congress fails to raise the federal borrowing limit and the country defaults on its debt obligations.

A default could cause the nation's credit markets to freeze, the value of the dollar to plummet and U.S. interest rates to skyrocket, according to the Treasury report released Thursday.