Budget Matters Blog


Avoiding the Next Fiscal Cliff: The Debt Ceiling

Good news came at the end of last week, and it's something that will affect you and your neighborhood. Speaker of the House John Boehner said the House would vote on a three-month increase to the debt ceiling in order to give lawmakers time to pass a more comprehensive budget deal.


Will There Be a Fiscal Cliff Deal?

There have been few outward signs of progress in recent days as Congress and the White House negotiate over the so-called fiscal cliff. (We prefer to call it a fiscal obstacle course.) Naturally that's led to speculation that lawmakers won't be able to strike a deal to avoid the looming spending cuts and tax increases.


A People's Guide... To The Debt Ceiling

Recently the notion of the "debt ceiling" has been appearing in the news. It's making a comeback after spending months in the spotlight last summer, when the federal government nearly shut down as federal debt reached the legal limit. (Lawmakers ultimately raised the limit in the eleventh hour.) Currently, it is projected that the federal debt will hit the new debt ceiling sometime before the end of 2012. To once again avoid a government shutdown, lawmakers will again have to raise the debt ceiling, which is now set at $16.4 trillion.