Obama: Debt Ceiling Must Be Raised To Prevent New Financial Crisis

President Barack Obama warned on Tuesday there could be another global financial crisis if Congress failed to raise the national debt ceiling.

But in an interview with NBC's "Today" show, Obama also said he took Republican leaders at their word that they want to avoid such a situation and he expects a deal to increase the debt limit "in a sensible way."

"The full faith and credit of the United States is the underpinning not only of our way of life, it's also the underpinning of a global financial system. We could actually have a reprise of a financial crisis, if we play this too close to the line. So we're going be working hard over the next month," he said.

(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

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