The Debt Ceiling

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The Debt Ceiling
by Douglas Elmendorf
In less than a week, according to projections from the Treasury Department, the U.S. government will begin defaulting on some of its obligations unless the Congress and the President increase the statutory ceiling on federal debt. (CBO doesn’t analyze the Treasury’s daily cash management, so we have no independent projection of the date.) The continuing debate about alternative approaches to raising the debt ceiling is taking place against a backdrop of serious ongoing problems with the federal budget and the economy that raise the stakes for decisions about the debt ceiling and budget policy. As CBO provides objective, nonpartisan information and analysis to assist the Congress during this crucial period, I’d like to highlight some of CBO’s work that bears on the various issues at hand.
http://cboblog.cbo.gov/?p=2475