The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) announced Tuesday that the national debt — which first exceeded $18 trillion less than a year ago — is due to pass the legal debt ceiling of $18,113,000,080,959.35 by mid-November. The debt has been frozen just below this limit since mid-March.
While debt ceiling negotiations have yet to begin, if Congress wants to keep spending money (and Congress definitely wants to keep spending money), it must raise the debt limit before that deadline is reached to avoid default. Depending on the course of debate, another government shutdown could be on the table.
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