Reid Says Rating Services Say Plan Won’t Lower U.S. Credit

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said today that credit rating services have said his proposal for raising the U.S. debt limit wouldn’t lead them to lower the government’s credit rating.

“Rating agencies have said as late as last night that the plan I have introduced will not cause a downgrading of our credit,” he said. CNN last night cited an unidentified investor as saying that Standard & Poor’s said the Reid bill would avoid a lowering of the U.S. credit rating.

By contrast, Reid said today, the Republican plan offered by House Speaker John Boehner “gives the credit agencies no choice but to downgrade U.S. debt.”

The Treasury Department has said that unless the debt ceiling, currently $14.3 trillion, is raised by Aug. 2, the U.S. won’t be able to pay all its obligations.

In remarks on the Senate floor, the Nevada Democrat defended the proposal he introduced yesterday, saying it is “taken from the Republican playbook.”

“It’s everything Republicans have demanded, wrapped up in a bow and delivered to their door,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net