US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Saturday that reaching a deal to resolve America's budget crisis is critical to its global leadership and national security and would bolster efforts to project US economic power around the world.
Speaking in Singapore during a tour of
Asia and Australia, Clinton said that when she was in Asia last year during the height of debate about the US debt ceiling, leaders from across the region asked her if the US Congress would actually allow the United States to default on its debt.
"Let's be clear," she said. "The full faith and credit of the United States should never be in question."
However, Clinton, who spoke at Singapore Management University, said that with Washington gearing up for another round of budget negotiations, she was "again hearing concerns about the global implications of America's economic choices".