Standard & Poor's Beers: 'We stand by our decisions' to downgrade U.S. debt

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) - Standard & Poor's, the credit rating agency that lowered the grade on the federal government's credit worthiness, continued its defense of its move Monday, calling Washington criticism a "smoke screen."

"This idea that we made a $2 trillion error is simply a smoke screen for the unhappiness, in our view, about our decision," said David Beers, S&P's global head of sovereign ratings, in an interview with Ali Velshi and Christine Romans on CNN's "America Morning."

In talking to CNN, Beers took particular issue with criticisms made by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on Sunday, when he told NBC that the agency they "drew exactly the wrong conclusion."

Beers pointed out that even Geithner acknowledged the harm done to the U.S. reputation, when leaders took until the last possible minute to come to a deal, and that the U.S. remains on an unsustainable path.

"So it seems that the Treasury isn't challenging the analysis both on the political side and on the fiscal side. They're just unhappy with the downgrade, but we stand by our decision," Beers said.

Beers talked to CNN about further downgrade possibilities, saying there is a 1-in-3 chance the United States could be downgraded again in the next six to 24 months.

See the rest of the interview here.