The Biden administration began “extraordinary measures” Thursday to prevent the federal government from breaching its debt limit and hurtling toward default, a grim scenario with the potential to destabilize markets and devastate the economy.In an analysts’ note Thursday, credit rating agency Moody’s said it expected debt limit negotiations to be “protracted, but debt-service obligations will be met.”“In our view, a debt limit impasse will likely be resolved before a missed interest payment occurs because of public, political and financial market pressures on Congress reflecting concerns about the potentially severe consequences that a missed payment could have on financial markets and the economy,” the firm wrote.In one September 2021 standoff, Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said a prolonged crisis could have catalyzed a full-scale recession in the United States, wiping out billions of dollars in economic growth and eliminating as many as 6 million jobs.“The American people rightfully recognize that maintaining Washington’s status quo, which runs up massive deficits and adds trillions to our national debt, is unsustainable,” Smith said in a statement, adding, “Instead of attacking his political opponents, President Biden should be spending this time working with House Republicans to address the debt ceiling in a way that imposes some fiscal sanity.”Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) accused House Republicans of brinkmanship that would cause “nothing less than an economic crisis.”“This is not complicated: If the MAGA GOP stops paying our nation’s bills, Americans will be the ones to pay the price,” he said in a statement.According to some legal scholars, the president could simply continue borrowing money, drawing on an obscure passage in the Constitution that says “The validity of the public debt of the United States … shall not be questioned.” Some experts argue that clause makes it unconstitutional for the United States to default on its debt, or for Congress to establish a debt limit."