BRT Urges Senate to Take Swift Action on Legislation to Prevent 'Disastrous' Default

Washington – Business Roundtable (BRT) today welcomed the vote in the U.S. House of Representatives to raise the statutory debt ceiling and called on the U.S. Senate to follow with its own prompt approval of the legislation.

“In meeting its responsibilities on the federal debt, the House helped improve the environment for business investment,” said John Engler, President of the BRT, which represents CEOs of leading U.S. companies from every sector of the economy.

“By preventing a potentially disastrous default on the federal debt, Congressional action on the debt ceiling eases the uncertainty that surrounds these kinds of political conflicts,” Engler said. “Prolonging the inaction could have slowed or even reversed the economic progress the United States has been making.”

The bipartisan vote also demonstrated Washington’s ability to overcome political disagreements on critical issues, Engler said.

In a Feb. 6 letter to Congressional leaders on the debt ceiling, Business Roundtable also encouraged Congress and the Obama Administration to tackle America’s unsustainable debt and put the United States on a long-term path to growth and prosperity.

“[In] the near term policymakers should address the debt ceiling so they can focus on implementing policies more fundamental to fostering economic growth,” wrote BRT Chairman Randall L. Stephenson, Chairman and CEO of AT&T Inc., and Louis R. Chênevert, Chairman and CEO of United Technologies Corporation, and Chair of BRT’s Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee. “These include enacting tax reform, fixing America’s broken immigration system and passing modernized Trade Promotion Authority legislation to advance U.S. trade agreements.”