U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has told President Barack Obama he will stay on the job despite economic turmoil and pressure from some Republicans to resign.
The Treasury Department said Sunday Geithner looks forward to the important work ahead on the challenges that face the country. A White House spokesman says President Obama is pleased Geithner will remain at his post.
Geithner told the White House earlier this year that he was considering leaving the job when the debt ceiling debate ended.
Republican Senator Rand Paul and Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann — a Republican presidential candidate — have both publicly demanded Geithner quit after the Standard & Poors credit rating agency downgraded the U.S. rating from the top triple-A grade Friday.
Some experts predict the move will have a negative impact on Monday’s U.S. stock market opening
S&P Managing Director John Chambers says there is a one-in-three chance the U.S. credit rating will be dropped again within the next two years.
Chambers said the rating will likely not improve until the national debt stabilizes and lawmakers are more willing to compromise with each other.
Former White House senior adviser David Axelrod Sunday blamed the downgrade on the Tea Party movement. He said the fault lies with lawmakers who were “willing to see the country default” rather than strike a deal on the debt ceiling.
S&P officials defended their decision to drop the credit rating, blaming Congress for months of political haggling over a deficit reduction deal that S&P says does not go far enough. The deal calls for reducing the deficit by more than $2 trillion over 10 years. S&P had called for $4 trillion in savings.
The other two major credit rating agencies, Moody’s and Fitch, have so far maintained the U.S. triple-A rating. The S&P move raises questions about the impact on investors, who have long seen U.S. debt, in the form of bonds or treasuries, as one of the safest investments in the world.
This is the first time since 1917 that U.S. debt has lost its top-tier rating.
