Geithner uncertain if US credit rating jeopardized

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WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says he doesn’t know if the bruising debt-limit battle will harm America’s Triple-A credit rating, but says he fears “world confidence was damaged by this spectacle.”

Geithner tells ABC News the credit rating is “not my judgment to make.” But he also says “this is, in some ways, a judgment on the capacity of Congress to act.”

He acknowledges the bill passed by the House on Monday and pending in the Senate will not immediately relieve high unemployment. But Geithner says “this is a very strong, very resilient economy,” and the new stability should allow the Obama administration to return to its heavy focus on job creation.

Geithner says the most important thing is that the legislation “creates more room for the private sector to grow.”