Originally posted on Washington Wire.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner wasn’t mincing words on Tuesday when he warned what would happen if Congress didn’t soon raise the debt ceiling about its current level of $14.294 trillion.

He said the “consequences of that would be catastrophic for the United States. Default by the United States would precipitate a crisis worse than the one we just went through. I think it would make the crisis we just went through look modest in comparison. It would force us to cut payments to the military, cut critical payments to our seniors. It would be a reckless, irresponsible act.”

Gulp. And he was just getting warmed up.