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The nation's credit rating takes another hit.

For Marketplace, I'm Novasopo, and for David Brancaccio.

There are three big credit rating agencies on Wall Street.

Moody's just became the last to downgrade its top-notch rating of U.S. sovereign debt.

It's a small change with big implications.

Marketplace's Nancy Marshall-Genser is here with

more. Good morning, Nancy. Good morning. So why did Moody's downgrade the nation's credit rating?

Yeah, Moody's downgraded the U.S. one notch on its 21-notch rating scale. And in a statement,

here's how Moody's explained it. It said it's excessive U.S.

administrations and Congress have failed to agree on measures to reverse the trend of big

deficits. And Moody says if the 2017 tax cuts are extended, that'll add around $4 trillion

to the deficit. Congressional Republicans are currently working on a bill that would continue those tax cuts.

All right. So, Nancy, this is not the first time the nation's credit rating is downgraded. It's not the second time. It is?

It is the third time, Nova. The first time was in 2011 When Standard and Poor's downgraded the U.S.

during a congressional standoff over the debt ceiling, Fitch did the same thing in 2023 after yet

another long fight in Congress over the debt limit. And that almost led the U.S. to default on its

...