Rising debt could derail Congress on just about everything

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/79757.html?storylink=omni_popular


The Senate began a debate Monday over the future of health care in America that's likely to go on for weeks, but behind the scenes, lawmakers are struggling to resolve an even more explosive issue: how to pay for all their ideas.

Federal budget deficits remain at record highs. The national debt is $12.1 trillion and Congress must vote soon to let it go higher or else the Treasury won't be able to issue new debt. President Barack Obama is expected to announce Tuesday a plan to send an additional 30,000 to 35,000 American troops to Afghanistan, which will require more spending.

Despite the Obama administration's promise of a new era of fiscal responsibility, seven of the 12 major appropriations bills that set federal spending — including those that govern the budgets of the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services and Transportation — still haven't passed Congress.

Those agencies have been operating since Oct. 1 on stopgap resolutions; the next one expires Dec. 18.

Add to this the $848 billion 10-year cost of the Senate health care proposal, and it appears that "it's all starting to come crashing down in one big piece,"

Senate must raise debt ceiling above $12T

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/57493-senate-must-raise-debt-ceiling-above-12t

It's time to rip up the credit card kids, because they have proved they're not responsible enough to own one.

Now Obama is asking Congress to raise the debt ceiling, something lawmakers are almost certain to do despite misgivings about the federal debt. The ceiling already has been hiked three times in the past two years, and the House took action earlier this year to raise the ceiling to $13 trillion.

Congress has little choice. Failing to raise the cap could lead the nation to default in mid-October, when the debt is expected to exceed its limit, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said