Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2021

October 6, 2021

The President. Hello, folks. Please. I want to thankââ [At this point, the President removed his mask.]

You can take these off while we're speaking. I want to thank our participants that are here, as well as those who are on Zoom. And this is, to state the obvious, an important get-together here.

And I'm going to make some brief comments, maybe ask a few questions. And then we'll yield and go down the road here, and maybe we canâall of us, both virtually as well as in person hereâwe can, hopefully, make some progress.

I want to thank the Secretary of Treasury, Secretary Yellen; Commerce Secretary RaimondoâI see her on the screen thereâit's good to see you; and the leaders of some of America's most important businesses and institutions, the American Association of Retired Personsâthe AARPâBank of America, Citibank, Deloitte, Intel, JP Morgan, Nasdaq, the National Association of Realtors, and Raytheon, andâfor joining me today to talk about the need to raise the debt limit.

We haven't failed to do that since our inception as a country. We need to act. These leaders know the need to act. The United States pays its bill. It's who we are. It's who we've been. It's who we're going to continue to be, God willing. That's what's called the "full faith and credit of the United States."

Let's be clear: Raising the debt limit is paying our old debts. It has nothing to do with new spending or what may be coming this year or other years. It has nothing to do with my plans on infrastructure or building back better, both of which are paid for, but they're not even in the queue right now. It's about paying for what we owe and preventing a catastrophic event occurring in our economy.

I'm glad these leaders are here to talk about the real-world impact this is going to have on people and on our position in the world. Today's discussion won't be partisan. It shouldn't be. Raising the debt limit is usually bipartisan.

Let me speak for myself here: I want to be clear so the American people understand what's going on. There's a Senate vote today to raise the debt limit. Traditionally, it needs only 50 votes. I wasâwe were informed by our Republican friends that they had to be all Democrat votes; they weren't going to help. I said, "Okay, we'll provide 50 votes."

The definitionâand the Democrats, we have the votes. The Democrats are willing to step up and stop this economic catastrophe if Senate Republicans will just get out of the way. But our Senate Republicans friends are planning to block the vote to raise the debt limit by using aâthe procedural power called the "filibuster." To say that in plain English, it means you have to have 60 votes when there's a filibuster. Sixty votesâa supermajorityâinstead of fifty to get anything done. It's not right, and it's dangerous.

The reason we have to raise the debt limit is, in part, because of the policies of the previous administration, which incurred nearly $8 trillion in bills in 4 yearsâsome of which Democrats voted forâmore than a quarter of all the debt now outstanding. We had to raise the debt limit three times when Donald Trump was President. And the Republicans moved to raise it each time, and each time, the Democrats supported the effort to raise the debt.

But now Republicans won't raise the debt limit despite being responsible for what the debt limitâwhy it has to be raised for the bills that are outstanding. They won't raise it enough throughâif they don't, we're going to be defaulting on the debt that would lead to self-inflicted wounds that risk the market tanking and wiping out retirement savings and costing jobs.

Defaulting on the debt, which Secretary Yellen said could happen at any day after October the 18thâthat's when we run out of moneyâmeans that Social Security benefits will stop, salaries to servicemembers will stop, benefits to veterans will stop, and much more.

The failure to raise the debt limit will undermine the safety of the United States Treasury securities; threaten the reserve status of the dollar as the world currency and theâthat the world relies on; downgrade America's credit rating; and result in a rise in interest rates for families, talking about mortgages, auto loans, credit cards.

My friendsâand they are many of my friendsâthe Senate Republicans' position I find to be not only hypocritical, but dangerous and a bit disgraceful, especially as we're crawling our way out of a pandemic that cost America 700,000 lives thus far, and we're still battling it. Our markets are rattled. America's savings are on the line. The American peopleâyour savings, your pocketbookâare directly impacted by this stunt. It doesn't have to be this way.

My Republican friends need to stop playing Russian roulette with the U.S. economy. If they don't want to do the job, just get out of the way. We'll take the heat. We'll do it. We will do it. Let us do it. Let the Democrats vote to raise the debt limit without obstruction or any further delays.

House Democrats have already passed the bill that would do that: raise the debt limit and keep the Government functioning. It's sitting in the United States Senate right now, where Democrats, with no help from Republicans, have the votes today to pass the debt limit.

The path Republicans offer would take us right to the brink and cause irreparable economic damage, in my view. So let's vote and end this mess today. That's the only way to eliminate the uncertainty and risk that will remain for American families and our economy if we don't.

Over more than 200 years, America has built this hard-earned reputation of the strongest, safest, and most secure investment in the world. And that's why the United States is the financial rock the world looks to and trusts.

Now, in one cynical, destructive, partisan ployâjust for politicsâour Republican friends are teetering on the brink here. They're threatening to boot that all away. Now it's a meteor headed to crash into our economy. We should all want to stop it, stop it immediately. This shouldn't be partisan.

And I'm thankful for the leaders who share the urgency on why we need to actâand we actâneed to act now. Many of them are here with me. Not next week, now.

I look forward to hearing from theâtheir perspectives andâand we'll now get theâget this meeting started, with my colleague's permission.

I'd like to start off, if I may, with a question for Jane Fraser, the CEO of Citi. And by the way, congratulations on your award. You run one of the largest banks in America. And what impacts are you seeing or do you think you'll see from this obstruction? What does it mean for the small businesses and everyday people if we renege on the debt here?

Citi Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser. Thank you, Mr. President, for inviting us all to talk about this critical issue. As the head of the bank, I don't have insight on what the right legislative solution is, but I can tell you that, from an economic perspective, we need to resolve this issue very quickly.

[*Ms. Fraser continued her remarks, concluding as follows.*]

So we really urge the administration and Congress to do what's necessary to resolve the situation for the good of our economy, for the good of our country.

Thank you, Mr. President.

The President. Well, thank you. And you make a very good point that we'reâGod willing, I think we're just about to begin to turn the corner again on the pandemic. And an awful lot of small businessesâtens of thousands of themâhave acquired significant debt. We've provided significant relief as well, but it's just an incredibly complicated feature.

I'd like now, with her permissionâI'd like to ask Adena Friedman, the CEO of NASDAQ, whether she'd be willing to give us her thoughts. And thank you for taking the time, Ms.

Friedman, to talk to us.

Nasdaq President and Chief Executive Officer Adena T. Friedman. Well, Mr. President, thank you very much for the opportunity to address the current situation.

We are starting to experience elevated volatility in the markets, which can be partially attributed to the uncertainty that's been introduced by the delay in approving the extension of the debt limit. We would expect that a continued delay in extending the debt limit would further destabilize the markets.

And when we consider the broader economic costs of the uncertainty and certainly of possible default, we would, as Jane mentioned, see higher borrowing costs for consumers and small businesses, as well as delays in much-needed payments to major social programs, such as Social Security and Medicare. So, when we look at this, these delays and certainly a default would mean that hard-working Americans will ultimately bear the burden.

So, as you mentioned, theâextending the debt limit simply allows the payment of obligations that have already been made by the U.S. Government. Therefore, voting to extend the debt limit is an important bipartisan action to reinforce the full faith and credit of the United States. And we urge theâwe urge action as quickly as possible.

So thank you.

The President. Let me ask you the DEFCON 10 question: If we don'tâif we default, even for a day or two, what do you think the impact on the market will be?

Ms. Friedman. I think that we would expect thatâand investors really just don't handle uncertainty well. And I think that investors andâand certainly, as we know, there are hundreds of millions of investors that are involved in the markets today that have put their hard-workingâ their hard-earned savings into the markets, and we would expect that the markets will react very, very negatively if we actually get to a point of a DEFCON 10 type of situation with a default.

The President. What does that do to people's retirement accounts?

Ms. Friedman. Yes, I think we have to realize that well over half of the adult Americans have money in the stock market, either directly or indirectly. And so those savings accounts, those retirement accounts, the pensions, they'll all experience a significant, sharp drop in their values, which of course makes them feel less certain about their ability to manage their lives and their savings and plan for retirement.

The President. Well, thank you. [Laughter] I don't mean to thank you for the result, but thank youâ[laughter]âfor explaining to people who are watching this how consequential this is.

You know, I see my old buddy Jamie Dimon up there at JP Morgan. Jamieâexcuse me for calling you JaimeâMr. CEO, it's good to see you.

Why, from your perspective, do we need to raise the debt limit immediately, before October 18th?

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon.

Mr. President, thank you. You can call me Jamie. That's fine.

The President. You can call me Joe. It's fine.

Mr. Dimon. And I appreciate you having us all here. Mr. President.

Anyway, there are five quick points I want to make. Number one is really a morality point: We all teach our children that we're supposed to meet our obligations. I don't think the Nation should be any different.

[*Mr. Dimon continued his remarks, concluding as follows.*]

And number five, America's role in the world is essential. We are the bedrockâthe American treasury is the bedrock. Our credibility, itâwe're being watched right now by our allies and, unfortunately, our enemies. Our credibility is absolutely essential. Trust in America and the

U.S. dollar and the financial system is critical to the world economy and eventually, actually, world peace.

So this is a time I think we should show American competence, not American incompetence.

The President. Well, I'm glad you raised that last point, because when I got back from the Gâ7, and subsequently with a number of virtual meetings with my colleagues and heads of stateâI know Brian Moynihan knows about this as wellâwe are not only being measured in terms of our strength and our reliability, based upon the size of our military and/or the physical strength that we possess, but it's on whether or not we can function.

There's a great debate going onâand I'm not exaggerating this; all of you deal internationally. There's a great debate going on, on whether or not, in the 21st centuryâin the second quarter of the 21st centuryâcan democracies function with things moving so rapidly?

And I can tell you a couple of the folks I've had a lot ofâspent a lot of time with of lateâ Mr. Putin and Mr. Xi Jinpingâthey really believe that autocracies are the only way forward, because they can act quickly and decisively. It's not a joke. And we're seeing the effects of this around the world.

And I don't knowâit'sâI don't knowâit's understandable why the average American wouldn't understand what the consequences of this will be for American security and the willingness of other countries to follow our lead.

We have always led the world not just by the example of our power, but the power of our example. And that's going to be called into severe question. I mean, for real. For real. And it has consequences that are real.

What doesâyou know, Jamie, what does "further delay" mean for a company like yours and the family you serve, if we justâeven if we just go on right up to the brink?

Mr. Dimon. When we start on Monday, we're going to start reviewing all our contracts, repo, collateral requirements. There will be huge demands of people selling treasuries, wanting financing to treasuries. Interest rates will start going up. It will get worse as we get close to the brink. And as you said, it'll hurt not big companiesâand we won'tâdon't worry about that; we do worry about that it hurts the average American, and we don't want that.

The President. Well, I thank you. We're going to get to everybody, but I'm going to yield to the Director of the Office of Public Engagement, former chairman of the Black Caucus in Congress, Cedric Richmond. Cedric.

White House Director of Public Engagement Cedric L. Richmond. Thank you, Mr. President.

I'll just quickly yield to whoâyour great Treasury Secretary, who is an expert on this, for comments on what she thinks the ramifications are and where we're headed.

So, with that, Secretary Yellen.

Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen. Thank you, Cedric. Thank you, Mr. President.

And let me thank the business and community leaders who have joined us here today. I wish we could be meeting to discuss another topic: finding solutions to climate change or how to better invest in the future of our economy. But the urgency of the debt limit situation demands immediate attention. And I want to be clear about my position.

[*Secretary Yellen continued her remarks, concluding as follows.*]

Ultimately, these benefits have helped us lead in the world economy and become a more prosperous Nation. And yet, today, we are staring into a catastrophe in which we surrender this hard-earned reputation and force the American people and American industry to accept all the pain, the turmoil, and the hardship that comes with default.

It's unnecessary, and it must be avoided at all costs. Congress must address the debt limit immediately.

Thanks. And I look forward to continued conversation.

NOTE: The President spoke at 1:05 p.m. from the South Court Auditorium of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to Jo Ann Jenkins, chief executive officer, AARP; Brian T. Moynihan, chairman of the board and chief executive officer Bank of America Corp.; Punit Renjen, global chief executive officer, Deloitte; Patrick Gelsinger, chief executive officer, Intel; Charlie Oppler, 2021 president, National Association of REALTORSÂ®; Gregory J. Hayes, chairman and chief executive officer, Raytheon Technologies; President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia; and President Xi Jinping of China. He also referred to S. 1301.

Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Public debt limit. Locations: Washington, DC.

Names: Dimon, Jamie; Fraser, Jane; Friedman, Adena T.; Gelsinger, Patrick; Hayes, Gregory J.; Jenkins, Jo Ann; Moynihan, Brian T.; Oppler, Charlie; Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich; Raimondo, Gina M.; Renjen, Punit; Richmond, Cedric L.; Trump, Donald J.; Xi Jinping; Yellen, Janet L.

Subjects: Armed Forces, U.S. : Funding; Budget, Federal : Appropriations :: Continuation; Budget, Federal : Deficit and national debt; Budget, Federal : Public debt limit; Business and industry : Business leaders, meeting with President; Business and industry : Small businesses, promotion efforts; China : President; Commerce, Department of : Secretary; Commerce, international : Group of Seven (Gâ7) nations; Congress : Senate :: Filibuster; Diseases : Coronavirus, domestic prevention efforts; Economy, national : Government bonds, creditworthiness; Economy, national : Strengthening efforts; Russia : President; Social Security and retirement : Social Security program; Treasury, Department of the : Secretary; Veterans : Benefits; White House Office : Public Engagement, Office of.

DCPD Number: DCPD202100816.