Susan Ferrechio of the Washington Examiner reports on the return of the federal debt ceiling as a federal spending issue.
The Trump administration has asked Congress to raise the federal debt ceiling before lawmakers leave for their August break. But that deadline could be difficult for Republicans who are under pressure to deliver results on healthcare and tax reform, and who are divided among themselves over whether they need to cut spending as a condition for raising the ceiling.
The latest chapter of the debt ceiling saga will be the first in years to be steered by Republicans in Congress and the White House. But while November’s election victory for Republicans led to expectations of a new way of addressing the issue, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin started the process by asking something that President Obama had routinely requested in the past: a “clean” increase in the ceiling with no strings attached, to ensure the government could keep on borrowing.
On March 16, Washington reached the end of an 18-month period in which it had suspended the debt ceiling, meaning it could borrow whatever it needed without worrying about limits. Once that ended, the total amount of government debt, $19.486 trillion, became the new ceiling.
The Treasury Department immediately took steps to reduce borrowing to keep the government from breaking through the ceiling. But Treasury can juggle the books for only so long, and is expected to require a higher ceiling by the fall.
