China Caught Buying Undisclosed U.S. Debt, Marshall Supports Borrowing More from China

July 6, 2011

Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department acknowledged that China had been caught buying up more U.S. debt than it had disclosed.

“When the Treasury Department revamped its rules for participating in government bond auctions two years ago, officials said they were simply modernizing outdated procedures.

“The real reason for the change, a Reuters investigation has found, was more serious: The Treasury had concluded that China was buying much more in U.S. government debt than was being disclosed, potentially in violation of auction rules, and it wanted to bring those purchases into the open – all without ruffling feathers in Beijing. …

“The incident calls into question just how clear a handle the Treasury has had on who is buying U.S. debt. Chinese entities hold at least $1.115 trillion in U.S. government debt, and are thought to account for roughly 26 percent of the paper issued by Washington, according to U.S. government data released on June 15. (Emily Flitter, “U.S. Caught China Buying More Debt than Disclosed,” Reuters, 6/30/2011)

Despite serious national security concerns over Chinese ownership of U.S. debt, Kate Marshall supports raising President Obama’s debt ceiling without any spending reductions. Kate Marshall has no problem borrowing trillions from countries like China to fund Obama’s spending addiction.

NRCC Comment:

“Kate Marshall’s unyielding support of raising Obama’s debt ceiling without any spending reductions shows how shockingly naïve she is about China’s interest in acquiring more U.S. debt. Nevada voters want real fiscal leadership, not a candidate like Kate Marshall who will blindly follow Obama’s big-spending agenda.” – Tyler Q. Houlton, NRCC Spokesman