The White House and Congress are fighting over whether to raise or cap the nation’s debt limit, the amount the government can borrow to pay its bills. If they can’t reach an agreement, it could be catastrophic for the economy. This is far from the first debt ceiling standoff in recent years, but the difference this time, experts say, is that lawmakers are dangerously close to a deadline of as early as June that would trigger a default.
The debt ceiling was created 106 years ago to simplify the government’s financing, but it is now effectively weaponized. It happened in 2011, when the Republican-controlled House played hardball with the Democrats in the White House and Senate over the debt ceiling in a bid to reduce the nation’s deficit.
