WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House plans to ask Congress by the end of the week for an increase in the government's debtceilingtarget to allow the United States to pay its bills on time, according to a senior Treasury Department official on Tuesday.
The approval is expected to go through without a challenge, given that Congress is in recess until later in January and the request is in line with an agreement to keep the U.S. government funded into 2013.
The debt is projected to fall within $100 billion of the current cap by December 30, when the United States has $82 billion in interest on its debt and payments such as Social Security coming due. President Barack Obama is expected to ask for authority to increase the borrowing limit by $1.2 trillion, part of the spending authority that was negotiated between Congress and the White House this summer.
Under the agreement struck in August during the showdown over the government's debt limit, the cap is automatically raised unless Congress votes to block the debt-ceiling extension. Lawmakers have 15 days within receiving the request to vote, which is largely symbolic because the president can veto it and Congress would be unlikely to muster the two-thirds majority to override it. Moreover, the U.S. House of Representatives also is in recess until January 17.
The deal called for raising the debt ceiling by $2.1 trillion to serve the nation's borrowing needs into 2013 and also included mandatory cuts to the federal budget deficit. Since then, the extension has been increased twice by a total of $900 billion.
And we wonder why the national debt is so high. Scary to think of that kind of money being tossed around and I have a hard time paying the federal taxes as they already are. When we keep raising these limits, we have to pay it back sometime, and it's your federal tax dollars and mine that will be paying this debt. It means our federal taxes are going to increase even more. I already know they are going up. Let's quit with borrowing more and do with what we have. There is so much waste that could be cut away within the federal government itself WITHOUT cutting social programs!
Unfortunately, with the voting record of most politicians, I imagine they will give Obama more than 1.2 trillion. We the People must end the madness within our government by throwing out most of the scummy politicians in D.C. and State capitols. Ron Paul will cut one trillion dollars, end five federal departments, and bring sanity back to this nation.
Don't forget that our currency is inflating and devaluating in the meantime...
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