WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama plans to deliver a statement about the economy as the nation grapples with the first downgrade of U.S. debt in the country’s history.
Obama will speak at 1 p.m. EDT from the White House.
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Standard and Poor’s on Friday said it was downgrading U.S. debt because the rating agency lacks confidence that political leaders will make the choices needed to avert a long-term fiscal crisis. Congress and Obama recently struck a deal to avoid a government default and to cut the deficit, although the deal was not as broad as the president wanted.
Obama is also expected to speak about Saturday’s shoot-down of a helicopter in Afghanistan in which 30 U.S. troops were killed – the deadliest incident for U.S. forces in the decade-long war.
