What was debt ceiling when obama took office

Treasury had been warning its borrowing authority would be exhausted, putting federal payments at risk. Markets Updated. By Steve Holland 3 Min Read. Reporting by Steve Holland, editing by G Crosse. Subscriber Account active since. Based on the website USdebtclock. Some of this debt is attributable to bills passed by Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, since the federal government's fiscal year budget operate differently from the calendar year.

Also, both Bush and Obama rolled out large investment bills to help the US recover from the depths of the financial crisis. A majority of economists agree that debt-financed government spending during the depths of a recession is a good way to help mitigate the impact of the crisis and help return the country to economic growth. In addition, the debt may not be a scary as some think , since the US is still in good credit standing and prints the reserve currency of the world.

Additionally, as the Obama administration often notes, the annual deficit has decreased each year of the Obama presidency.

The committee is expected to consider politically sensitive reforms to the tax code and entitlement programs, though Democrats and Republicans disagree on the likelihood of any eventual revenue increases.

At that point, however, a budget "trigger" will kick in, imposing mandatory across-the-board spending cuts matching the size of the debt ceiling increase.

The cuts would be split between defense spending and non-defense programs, an unpopular formula intended to motivate legislators to approve the committee's recommendations. The final debt ceiling increase in the agreement is also subject to a congressional vote of disapproval that can be vetoed by Obama.

The agreement calls for both houses of Congress to vote on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, though it does not make a further increase in the debt limit subject to congressional passage of such an amendment -- something tea party conservatives were initially demanding. According to the Monday survey, Republicans dislike the fact that the deal raises the debt ceiling through , while Democrats dislike the lack of any tax increases on businesses or higher-income Americans.

Kent Conrad, D-North Dakota, who has announced he is not seeking re-election next year. We're here to solve problems. We're not here to worry about the next election, and unfortunately there's too much focus on pure partisan politics and not enough focus on solving problems confronting the country.

Share this on:. President: Everyone has to chip in. Part of complete coverage on. Debt-reduction talks. The debt ceiling bill. Can they still raise taxes? It's not surprising that there's a disagreement between the White House and Republicans on whether the deficit reduction committee can or will tackle tax reform.

Timeline: How we got into this mess. Democrats and Republicans might be further apart on raising the debt ceiling than they were when the issue arose in January. The U. What neither side seems to recognize is that what matters about the debt isn't the dollar amount per se but how much it costs us to service it.