The Hill News

The latest installment in a decades-long series of showdowns on Capitol Hill over raising the statutory debt ceiling is imminent. The ceiling has been raised ten times in just the last nine years to make room for almost $8 trillion in additional debt. But the stakes are much higher this time around, as the electorate is showing increasing awareness of the danger of having allowed Uncle Sam to abuse his credit card. 

The Republicans’ reclamation of the House in November, due in part to a promise to address the government’s runaway debt, immediately set up a confrontation with the Obama administration over the need to raise the ceiling above $14.3 trillion at some point in the spring.

When Republicans balked at the prospect of raising the debt ceiling without also reining in spending, the White House wasted little time in warning that GOP intransigence could usher in the apocalypse.

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