U.S. debt ceiling sets up major battle in Congress

“First, I have determined that, by reason of the statutory debt limit, I will be unable to fully invest the portion of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund (CSRDF) not immediately required to pay beneficiaries, and that a ‘debt issuance suspension period’ will begin on Thursday, January 19, 2023, and last through Monday, June 5, 2023,” the letter said.

“I respectfully urge Congress to act promptly to protect the full faith and credit of the United States,” she added.

The Congressional Budget Office recently released budget figures showing that the federal government borrowed $4 billion per day in 2022, which is more than $10,000 per household and on overall deficit of about $1.4 trillion. Pre-pandemic deficits were less than $1 trillion.

Experts raised the alarm, arguing this need for yet another debt ceiling increase shows the current unsustainable trajectory of federal debt spending.

“America will hit the $31 trillion debt ceiling today,” said economic expert Stephen Moore. “That’s 120% of our GDP and $246,876 per taxpayer. How can anyone believe this is sustainable?”

Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, cautioned about the consequences of going too far with using the debt ceiling for political purposes.

“Politicians who are rightly worried about the nation’s unsustainable borrowing path should take a hard stance against new borrowing and oppose legislation that would add to the debt while offering specific solutions to control the debt already on the books, rather than threatening not to pay the bills on borrowing that has already been incurred.”

MacGuineas added, “We are on track to begin adding $2 trillion per year to the debt by the end of the decade. Interest payments are the fastest growing part of the budget and are projected to start costing $1 trillion annually in only a few years. The Social Security and Medicare Hospital Insurance trust funds are headed toward insolvency. And last year alone, Congress and the President passed bipartisan legislation that added nearly $2 trillion to the projected national debt. This is an urgent problem that is not getting the attention it needs.”