Congress has until a week from tomorrow to raise the debt ceiling, the cap on the amount of money the Treasury can borrow to pay the government’s bills. As the clock keeps ticking, you may still have unanswered questions. How dire could the consequences of not raising the debt ceiling be? What are the possible solutions? Here’s a reading list to help you keep up.
Following the debt ceiling debate in real time:
Slate has an updating infographic that lets you see how much money the Treasury has in its bank account right now.
Click On:
- Debt Ceiling Fallacies: How to Pay Down The Deficit Without Really Trying
- President Concession: Obama’s Conviction Deficit
- Enough Nickel and Diming: How to Cut $1.5 Trillion From the Budget Without Really Trying
For the latest news and analysis, the Wall Street Journal has a frequently updated live blog. The Economist is also doing daily debt ceiling updates. Some good people to follow for updates on Twitter include CNBC’s @JimPethokoukis, TIME Magazine’s @MarkHalperin, CBS’s @NorahODonnell, NBC’s @LukeRussert and @KellyO, Slate’s @daveweigel, and the Bipartisan Policy Center (@BPC_Bipartisan).
The basics on the debt ceiling (including where it comes from):
An earlier guide of ours answers basic questions about the debt ceiling, like “What is the debt ceiling, really?” and “Is the debt ceiling necessary?” Poynter has a guide to common misconceptions about the debt ceiling that can help you cut through misleading coverage. It’s important to note, as Poynter does, that raising the debt ceiling doesn’t mean that we’re increasing spending, but that we’re letting the Treasury borrow money to pay for things we’ve already agreed to spend on. Here’s how NPR Correspondent Robert Smith explained the situation to Poynter:
“The way I put it is that Congress has already ordered the pizza. They approved the pepperoni. They called up and had someone deliver it,” Smith said via email. “Now the pizza guy is knocking at the door, and asking to get paid. If you don’t raise the debt ceiling, it’s like saying we didn’t want that pizza in the first place. Maybe he’ll go away if we don’t answer.”
The New York Times has a helpful chart that breaks down which policies have contributed to the national debt over the Bush and Obama administrations. This chart, tweeted James Fallows at the Atlantic, “should accompany every story about the debt ceiling debate.” Talking Points Memo explains that most of the U.S. national debt is actually owed to the United States—it’s money that some government agencies have borrowed from each other. The Guardian’s data blog has a rundown of which foreign countries the United States owes, and how much we owe them.
What might happen if the debt limit isn’t raised:
Basically, anyone and anything that relies on federal government funds may not get paid, including members of the U.S. military and military contractors and people receiving Social Security checks. The New York Times has a story detailing what may happen to state governments if the debt ceiling doesn’t get extended. Bloomberg has an interactive that lets you take on the role of the Treasury trying to decide which of its bills to pay.
The U.S. credit rating might get downgraded, which could raise the cost of borrowing and cause panic in financial markets and dumping of U.S. bonds. The IMF said today that a downgrade could be “extremely damaging” to the world economy. Forbes has a piece weighing the pros and cons of a credit rating downgrade and whether or not it’s inevitable.
What, and who, is holding up the deal:
Much of the debate has centered on other things that should go along with raising the debt ceiling, like repeal of health care law (here’s an earlier post we did on that). This New York Times chart lays out the major obstacles to working out a debt ceiling deal. At the New York Review of Books, Elizabeth Drew has an insightful summary of the failures of the negotiations so far.
Possible solutions:
As of last week, there were eight possible deals on the table, all of which the New York Times’ Caucus blog detailed in a cheat sheet. After debt ceiling negotiations temporarily broke off on Friday, congressional party leaders began drafting two new plans. Bloomberg has the details of those plans here. Bill Clinton also raised the possibility that Obama could raise the debt ceiling without congressional approval, using a provision in the 14th Amendment. The New York Times explains how Clinton’s recommendation would work. In the event that a deal isn’t reached, CNBC’s John Carney suggests that the Federal Reserve might be able to keep the Treasury afloat by selling its Treasury securities. At The New Yorker, James Surowiecki argues that it would be best to just get rid of the debt ceiling altogether.
–Braden Goyette, ProPublica
Kurt says
The problem this nation is having is congress. We need a smaller, more accountable congress.
Rob says
I just called John Mica’s office in Washington DC.
The gent who answered the telephone was nice and polite and he said he wrote my issue down and would present it to the Congressman.
Now for my issue.
Why do most if not all of the Republican’s refuse to make the richest people in the richest country in the world pay a little bit more taxes?
And please don’t give me that jobs creation BS, because it did not work when Reagan did it nor did it work when Bush did it.
I
Steve Robinson says
Pierre, as usual James Fallows is right. That NYT chart–a very simple guide to how we got to this place–should be emailed to every American. Not that the Tea Party would care, of course. I guess their attitude is they must destroy the country in order to save it–and how well did that work the last time that expression was used? Keep up the great work!