美国财政部长珍妮特·耶伦在美国广播公司的《本周》节目中警告说，参议员少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔和共和党人正在为一场悬而未决的筹集资金的斗争而玩弄“灾难”债务最高限额。

尽管参议院周四达成协议，将债务上限紧急提高4800亿美元，以支付截至12月3日的国家账单，但麦康奈尔警告称，进一步提高债务上限的战斗正在酝酿。

在“本周”主播乔治·斯特凡诺普洛斯的追问下，耶伦描绘了一幅后果极其严重的画面，如果麦康奈尔信守共和党下次不会帮助民主党的诺言，将会发生什么。

“5000万美国人不会收到社会保障金。我们的部队不知道何时或是否会得到报酬。获得儿童税收抵免的3000万家庭，这些付款将处于危险之中，”耶伦说。

她说这种情况“可能会导致灾难。”

尽管周四没有共和党人投票提高债务上限，但11人与民主党人一起投票打破共和党的阻挠，以便提高债务上限的措施能够推进。最终，临时提高债务上限的最终措施以50票对48票获得通过，没有共和党人投赞成票。

埃文·武奇/美联社

财政部长珍妮特·耶伦在与总统乔·拜登和bu的一次会议上发言..

该措施的通过暂时避免了政府可能的关闭和违约，但在12月寻求更永久的解决方案时，引发了共和党和民主党之间的争斗。

在周五给拜登的一封信中，麦康奈尔代表“填补了领导层真空”的共和党人邀功，并通过投票取消共和党阻挠暂时债务上限措施的做法，帮助避免了金融灾难。他警告说，到12月份，他将愿意允许美国拖欠国债，而不是与民主党合作达成一项决议。

耶伦此前曾表示支持取消债务上限，斯特凡诺普洛斯询问她是否能够说服总统乔·拜登同意这一立场。

“是的，我支持[它]。但这取决于国会，”耶伦说。

在达成结束债务上限僵局、首次避免美国违约的短期协议之前，一些参议员和其他支持者重新提出了一个想法，即允许财政部在没有国会批准的情况下铸造任何价值的白金硬币，以确保美国的账单得到支付。根据2001年的法律，硬币必须由铂制成，因为国会控制着金、银、镍、青铜和铜。

当斯特凡诺普洛斯问她为什么不考虑铸造一枚万亿美元的硬币时，耶伦对这个想法嗤之以鼻。

“我觉得这是个噱头。这危及了美联储的独立，”耶伦回应道。“[赤字]自1965年以来已经上调了近70次，几乎都是在两党合作的基础上...我认为这应该是共同的责任，而不是任何一方的责任。”

另一个绕过与共和党在提高债务上限问题上的僵局的可能选择是，允许拜登援引内战时期的第14修正案，忽略法定债务上限。

“如果国会不采取行动，是否会援引第14条?”斯特凡诺普洛斯问秘书。斯特凡诺普洛斯说“文本非常清楚”，他阅读了修正案的一部分，该部分指出，“美国公共债务的有效性...不应该受到质疑。”

耶伦说，“我认为没有哪位总统必须这么做……无法想象12月3日会在那里。”

她说，如果12月份不提高债务上限，“这将是一场自我制造的危机，影响我们从大流行中复苏，并将是一个自我造成的创伤。我们不应该处于那种境地。”

耶伦还被要求参与正在进行的关于拜登提议的3.5万亿美元“重建更好”基础设施计划的斗争。她说，国会议员正在讨论“构建对美国有巨大回报的一揽子计划的最佳方式”

耶伦说:“美国需要道路、桥梁、铁路、电网基础设施，还需要有助于儿童和家庭成功的项目、儿童保育、社区大学——所有这些都是很难协商的选择。

当被问及她和拜登是否会就重建更好计划的分歧进行权衡时，耶伦说，“现在这是一个健康的交换。我想每个人都意识到...这是一个历史性的机会，可以在这个国家投资，解决长期困扰美国家庭的结构性问题。”

耶伦说:“我相信民主党人会团结起来，做必要的事情，利用这个机会。

耶伦还表示，相信国会将批准立法，将136个国家同意的15%全球企业最低税纳入拜登的支出计划。她说，这项税收将“让世界放心，美国会尽自己的一份力量。”

耶伦表示:“这是一项非常具有历史意义的协议。“我们应该在我们的优势基础上，在我们的制度基础上竞争，而不是竞相杀入谷底，剥夺各国投资于本国人民所需的资源。”

Treasury Secretary Yellen warns debt ceiling battle could spell 'catastrophe'

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned on ABC's "This Week" that Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republicans are playing with "catastrophe" over a pending fight to raise thedebt ceiling.

While the Senate reached a deal on Thursday for an emergency hike of the debt ceiling by $480 billion to pay the nation's bills through Dec. 3, McConnell has warned of a battle brewing over raising it further.

Pressed by "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos about what would happen if McConnell keeps his word that Republicans won't help the Democrats next time, Yellen painted a picture with drastic consequences.

"Fifty million Americans wouldn't receive Social Security payments. Our troops won't know when or if they would be paid. The 30 million families that receive a child tax credit, those payments would be in jeopardy," Yellen said.

She said such a scenario "could result in catastrophe."

While no Republicans voted on Thursday to raise the debt ceiling, 11 voted with Democrats to break a Republican filibuster so the measure to raise the debt ceiling could advance. In the end, the final measure to temporarily raise the debt ceiling passed by a vote of 50-48 with no Republicans voting in favor.

Passage of the measure temporarily staved off a potential government shutdown and default but sets up a battle between Republicans and Democrats when a more permanent resolution is sought in December.

In a letter to Biden on Friday, McConnell took credit on behalf of Republicans who "filled the leadership vacuum" and helped dodge financial calamity by voting to remove the Republican filibuster stalling the temporary debt ceiling measure. He warned that come December, he would be willing to allow the nation to default on its national debt rather than work with Democrats on a resolution.

Yellen has previously expressed support for eliminating the debt limit and was asked by Stephanopoulos if she has been able to convince President Joe Biden to get on board with that position.

"Yes, I support [it]. But it's up to Congress," Yellen said.

Before reaching the short-term deal to end a debt ceiling standoff and avert a U.S. default for the first time, some senators and other proponents refloated the idea of allowing the Department of Treasury to mint a platinum coin of any value without congressional approval to ensure the nation's bills are paid. Under the 2001 law, the coin must be made of platinum because of Congress' control over gold, silver, nickel, bronze and copper.

Yellen scoffed at the idea when Stephanopoulos asked why she would not consider minting a trillion-dollar coin.

"I think it’s a gimmick. And it jeopardizes the independence of the Federal Reserve," Yellen responded. "[The deficit] has been raised almost 70 times since 1965, almost always on a bipartisan basis ... I believe it should be a shared responsibility, not the responsibility of any one party."

Another possible option to bypass the stalemate with Republicans over raising the debt ceiling would be to allow Biden to invoke the Civil War-era 14th Amendment and ignore the statutory debt limit.

"Is invoking the 14th on the table if Congress doesn’t act?" Stephanopoulos asked the secretary. Saying the "text is pretty clear," Stephanopoulos read the section of the amendment which states, "The validity of the public debt of the United States... should not be questioned."

Yellen said, "I don’t think any president has had to do that … can’t imagine being there on Dec. 3."

She said if the debt ceiling is not raised in December "this would be a self-manufactured crisis that affects our recovery coming out of the pandemic and would be a self-inflicted wound. We shouldn’t ever be in that position."

Yellen was also asked to weigh in on the ongoing fight over Biden's proposed $3.5 trillion "Build Back Better" infrastructure plan. She said members of Congress are engaged in discussions over "the best way to construct a package that would have huge payoffs for America."

"America needs roads, bridges, railroads, infrastructure for the electric grid, but also programs that would help children and families succeed, child care, community colleges -- all hard choices to negotiate," Yellen said.

Asked whether she and Biden are going to weigh in on disagreements over the Build Back Better plan, Yellen said, "This is a healthy give and take right now. I think everyone realizes ... this is a historic opportunity to invest in this country to address long-standing structural problems that have been holding back American families."

"I believe that Democrats will come together and do what’s necessary and take advantage of this opportunity," Yellen said.

Yellen also expressed confidence that Congress will approve legislation to include the 15% global corporate minimum tax agreed to by 136 countries in Biden's spending package. She said the tax would "reassure the world that the U.S. will do its part."

"This is a very historic agreement," Yellen said. "We should be competing on the basis of our strengths, on our institutions, not a race to the bottom that deprives countries of the resources we need to invest in our people."