that when the debt ceiling is reached, the Treasury can declare a "debt issuance suspension period" during which it can take "extraordinary measures" In the United States, the debt ceiling is a law limiting the total amount of money the federal government can borrow. Since 2025, the debt ceiling is $41.1 trillion after being raised by $5 trillion through the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (OBBBA). The debt ceiling is expected to breach by 2027. The U.S. government has borrowed to finance its budget since 2002, running a structural budget deficit. D… debt obligations, though it has been close on several occasions. The only exception was during the War of 1812 when parts of Washington D.C. including the Treasury were burned. In 2011, the U.S. reached a crisis point of near default on public debt. The delay in raising the debt ceiling resulted in the first downgrade in the United States credit rating, a sharp drop in the stock market, and an increase in borrowing costs. Congress raised the debt limit with the Budget Control Act of 2011, which added to the fiscal cliff when the new ceiling was reached on December 31, 2012. Debts of the Federal Financing Bank are not debts of the government per se and therefore are also not subject to the ceiling, but have a separate limit of $15 billion. == Legislative history == Before 1917, the U.S. had no debt ceiling. Congress either authorized specific loans or allowed the Treasury to issue certain debt instruments and individual debt issues for specific purposes. Sometimes Congress gave the Treasury discretion over what type of debt instrument would be issued. The United States first instituted a statutory debt limit with the Second Liberty Bond Act of 1917. And, starting in November 1953, Treasury monetized close to $1 billion of gold left over in its vaults, which helped keep it from exceeding the $275 billion limit. During spring and summer 1954, the Senate and the executive branch negotiated on a debt ceiling federal government shutdowns of 1995 and 1996. In all, Congress raised the debt ceiling eight times during the Clinton Administration. === George W. Bush === While George W. Bush was President, both Republicans and Democrats controlled the House and the Senate at various points during his term. Congress increased the debt ceiling eight times in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, and twice in 2008. When Republicans were in the majority, they consistently voted to increase the debt ceiling. On May 19, the debt ceiling was raised to approximately $16.699 trillion to accommodate the borrowing done during the suspension period. During the suspension period, the Treasury was authorized to borrow to the extent that it "is required to meet existing commitments". On May 19, the debt ceiling was raised by $306 billion to cover the borrowings done during the suspension period, as well as commitments that accrued in the preceding period that extraordinary measures were in place, which commenced on December 31, 2012. After the 2024 United States presidential election, Donald Trump supported eliminating the debt ceiling. Congress did not impose any preconditions or significant spending cuts. Democrats in the Senate could have threatened to stop the debt ceiling increase by use of the filibuster but declined to do so. === Joe Biden === During Biden's first two years as president, the House and Senate were both controlled by the Democratic Party. In October 2021, the debt ceiling was increased by $480 billion, as a temporary measure requiring fresh legislation by December 3, 2021. That month, Congress voted to increase it by $2.5 trillion, which President Biden signed into effect on December 16, 2021. At that point, it was set at about $31.4 trillion. On January 19, 2023, the United States hit its debt ceiling of $31.4 trillion. At this time, Republicans had taken control of the House during the 2022 midterm elections. Although Republicans were a minority in the Senate, they threatened for the first time in American history to use the filibuster to stop the debt ceiling increase. On June 3, 2023, the debt ceiling was suspended when U.S. president Joe Biden signed the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 into law. This ended the debt-ceiling crisis that began on January 19, 2023; the debt ceiling suspension remained in effect until December 31, 2024. In a letter to Congress on April 4, 2011, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner explained that when the debt ceiling is reached, the Treasury can declare a "debt issuance suspension period" during which it can take "extraordinary measures" to continue meeting federal obligations provided that it does not involve the issue of new debt. These measures are taken to avoid, as far as resources permit, a partial government shutdown or a default on the debt. These methods have been used on several previous occasions in which federal debt neared its statutory limit. Treasury first implemented these measures on December 16, 2009, to avoid a government shutdown. These measures were implemented again on May 16, 2011, when Treasury Secretary Geithner declared a "debt issuance suspension period". According to his letter to Congress, this period could "last until August 2, 2011, when the Department of the Treasury projects that the borrowing authority of the United States will be exhausted". The measures were again implemented on December 31, 2012, the start of the debt ceiling crisis of 2013 with the default trigger date ticking to February 2013. As a result, MMT theorists argue the debt ceiling is largely a symbolic limit on government spending; in 2020 Stephanie Kelton, a prominent supporter of MMT, wrote that "there are no constraints on the federal budget." After the turn of the 20th century, and particularly during and since the Great Recession (2007-2009) political landscape, MMT has been the subject of political debate between post-Keynesian, mainstream, and free-market economic theorists and politicians alike.