Whovian
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Obama aide: Debt limit fight could be catastrophic | Reuters
Congress has raised the debt ceiling six times in the last three years to keep pace with our deteriorating financial situation. It is currently pegged at $14.3 trillion, but to put this in perspective, a little over three years ago the debt limit was less than $9 trillion.
It seems the Democrats solution (yes, I blame the Democrats for the last 6 increases, as they were in control and the vote was along party lines), to the problem of spending beyond our means... is to simply increase or credit limit and keep spending.
The GOP wants to end this practice, and the Obama administration considers that possibly catastrophic. Typical.
Republicans, who will take control of the House of Representatives this week, are demanding spending cuts to curb the $1.3 trillion budget deficit and several have said they would oppose a higher debt ceiling if Obama does not agree to a range of painful cuts.
White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee accused Republicans of "playing chicken" with the nation's financial credibility.
"This is not a game. You know, the debt ceiling ... is not something to toy with," Goolsbee told the ABC News program "This Week." "If we hit the debt ceiling, that's ... essentially defaulting on our obligations, which is totally unprecedented in American history."
"The impact on the economy would be catastrophic. I mean, that would be a worse financial economic crisis than anything we saw in 2008," he said.
Without a vote by Congress to raise the limit on government borrowing, the Treasury Department could bump up against the current $14.3 trillion debt limit. Treasury has estimated the limit could be reached during the first or second quarter of this year.
Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota told CBS' "Face the Nation" Republicans were not looking to shut the government down but they do want to cut spending so the debt limit does not have to be raised "continually."
Congress has raised the debt ceiling six times in the last three years to keep pace with our deteriorating financial situation. It is currently pegged at $14.3 trillion, but to put this in perspective, a little over three years ago the debt limit was less than $9 trillion.
It seems the Democrats solution (yes, I blame the Democrats for the last 6 increases, as they were in control and the vote was along party lines), to the problem of spending beyond our means... is to simply increase or credit limit and keep spending.
The GOP wants to end this practice, and the Obama administration considers that possibly catastrophic. Typical.
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