Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday said that the U.S. government will never default on its debt as the federal government faces a looming deadline to address the debt limit this summer. Bessent appeared on CBS News' "Face the Nation" and was asked about the tax package that Republicans in Congress are advancing, which includes a $4 trillion increase in the debt limit – enough to push the debt ceiling out roughly two years given federal budget deficits are close to $2 trillion annually. CBS' Margaret Brennan asked Bessent, "How close of a brush with default could this be" given potential changes to the bill and Congress needing to raise the debt limit by mid-July. "Well, first of all, Margaret, I will say the United States of America is never going to default," Bessent replied. "That is never going to happen, that we are on the warning track and we will never hit the wall." MOODY'S DOWNGRADES US CREDIT RATING OVER RISING DEBT Bessent was asked if he thinks the government has more wiggle room if they don't raise the debt limit by mid-July. The treasury secretary responded and said that "we don't give out the X date, because we want to use that to move the bill forward." Budget analysts have estimated that the so-called "X date" – when the Treasury will exhaust the budget tools known as extraordinary measures that it's using to make debt payments – will most likely be reached in late summer.

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