Congress recently agreed to raise the debt ceiling by $480 billion which provides enough capacity for the treasury to continue to borrow through early December based on estimates. This week’s chart of the week shows a history of the Debt Ceiling and the amount of debt held by the U.S. government. Congress initially imposed the Debt Ceiling in an effort to allow the treasury to borrow what it needed to meet if obligations without having to ask for permission every time. However, as shown in the chart, when the government debt continues to grow, the debt ceiling can be a limit, creating the opportunity for disagreements over how much to raise the debt. A longer term solution and debt limit will need to be reach prior to December when the debt ceiling will be approached again.
Source: Axios