White House economic nominee Rouse says more spending needed to avoid 'downward spiral'

U.S. President Joe Biden's nominee to run the White House Council of Economic Advisers said the U.S. economy risks a "downward spiral" of debt problems if it fails to support households, businesses, state and local governments through the end of the coronavirus pandemic.

"If we don't, we run the risk of actually finding ourselves in a downward spiral because the capacity to deal with our debt is not only the amount that we spend but the size of our economy. And if we want to keep our economy going, we need to be spending some money," Rouse told the Senate Banking Committee at her confirmation hearing.