The current U.S. national debt limit is set at $16.394 trillion. According to the treasury department’s website the debt limit, “allows the government to finance existing legal obligations that Congresses and presidents of both parties have made in the past.” The debt limit will be reached by February 28, 2013.
Secretary of the Treasury Timothy F. Geithner sent a letter to Congress on December 26, 2012 (PDF) stating the United States had reach the statutory debt limit. The letter explains that the treasury department would take steps to keep the government funded for approximately two more months.
On Monday December 31, 2012, Mr. Geithner issued a statement that the treasury began a “debt issuance suspension period (PDF).”
After the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 was passed into law, Republicans vowed to use the debt limit to extract spending cuts and reforms to Medicare and Social Security. President Obama issued his own warning that he would not negotiate the debt limit.
Government Accountability Office stated the 2011 debt limit negotiations cost U.S. taxpayers $1.3 billion.
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