And now, the Fight is On: Following the passing in early January 2013 of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 to avert the projected fiscal cliff, political debate shifted to the debt ceiling. The ceiling is a limit set by Congress on the amount that the government can borrow for public spending and was set at $16.4 trillion in 2011. The debt ceiling was technically reached on December 31, 2012, and extraordinary measures were taken by the Treasury Department to enable spending to continue. According to a letter from Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner to Congress on January 14, the Treasury projected that funds would be exhausted between mid-February and early March. On January 15, 2013, Fitch Ratings warned that delays in raising the debt ceiling could result in a formal review of the credit rating of the U.S., potentially leading to it being downgraded from AAA. Fitch cautioned that a downgrade could also result from the absence of a plan to bring down the deficit in the medium term.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Oct 2013 04:42:27 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015