America hits its debt ceiling: A 'crisis on the horizon'?

The U.S. has exceeded the $14.3 trillion borrowing limit imposed by Congress, and though it's taking emergency measures to pay its bills, time is running out

Timothy Geithner
(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

On Monday, the U.S. government reached the $14.3 trillion debt limit imposed by Congress. The Treasury is now enacting emergency measures to avoid default and buy time — until early August — for the White House and GOP leaders to strike a deal allowing more government borrowing. But many in Congress say they won't vote to increase the debt limit without a parallel agreement to slash spending. That means "the pathway to a deal remains unclear, even to those doing the negotiating," say Damian Paletta and Carol E. Lee in The Wall Street Journal. Is a debt disaster inevitable this summer?

Yes, there's a "crisis on the horizon": The government has 11 weeks to avoid a catastrophe, says Steve Benen at Washington Monthly. The good news is that, technically, it's "extraordinarily easy" to raise the debt ceiling and avoid default. The bad news is that "radicalized Republicans have decided to start playing by new, wildly irresponsible rules, and Democrats aren’t drawing lines in the sand, demanding an end to GOP recklessness." Don't expect a deal anytime soon.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us