Debt Limit

Contents: (1) Introduction: The Debt Limit and the Treasury; Why Have a Debt Limit?; (2) A Brief History of the Federal Debt Limit: Origins of the Federal Debt Limit; World War II and After; (3) The Debt Ceiling in the Last Decade: The Debt Limit Issue in 2002: Resolving the Debt Limit Issue in 2002; The Debt Limit Issue in 2003; The Debt Limit Issue in 2004; The Debt Limit Issue in 2005, 2006, and 2007; The Economic Slowdown and Federal Debt; Fiscal Policy Considerations; Raising the Debt Ceiling in 2008 and 2009; Revised Deficit Estimates; (4) Concluding Comments; (5) Further Reading. Charts and tables.

This report discusses how the total debt of the federal government can increase, a historical overview of debt limits, and how the current economic slowdown has led to higher deficits and thereby a series of debt limit increases, as well as legislation related to these increases.

Since 1995, the statutory debt limit has been increased 12 times to its current level of $14.294 trillion. The Dept. of the Treasury (DoT) notified Congress that the current debt limit could be reached as early as April 5, 2011. Under current law debt subject to the limit will exceed $25 trillion in 2021. This report: (1) describes the actions that DoT traditionally takes to manage debt near the limit; (2) analyzes the effects that approaching the debt limit has had on the market for DoT securities; and (3) describes alternative mechanisms that would permit consideration of the link between policy decisions and the effect on debt when or before decisions are made. Charts and tables. This is a print on demand edition of an important, hard-to-find report.