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The Partisan Politics Behind Debt Ceiling
The US could hit debt ceiling by 1 June, 2023 if Congress fails to raise or suspend the debt ceiling.
As House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden accused each other of “threatening to bumble our nation into its first ever default,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that the US may run out of cash by 1 June.
The debt ceiling is a legal limit on the amount of money that the United States government can borrow to pay its bills. It was first introduced in 1917, and since then, it has been raised dozens of times to accommodate the growing federal debt. However, in recent years, the debt ceiling has become a hotly contested issue in American politics, with partisan bickering and gridlock threatening to plunge the country into financial crisis.
We will explore the history of the debt ceiling, the political motivations behind it, and the consequences of partisan politics on the country’s financial stability.
The History of the Debt Ceiling
The debt ceiling was first introduced during World War I as a way to give the Treasury Department more flexibility in financing the war effort. At the time, there was no set limit on how much money the government could borrow, and Congress…
