U.S. will reach debt ceiling at end of March, Geithner warns Congress

Dems, GOP jockey over debt ceiling
House Republicans might want to duck: They’re about to run smack into the Debt ceiling. A spending-obsessed new Republican majority received a dire warning from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who sent Congress a letter Thursday outlining the doomsday scenario that would ensue if lawmakers fail to raise the Debt Limit and the nation defaults on its credit obligations. Continue Reading Text Size - + reset Politico 44 The early missive from Geithner sets the stage for what could be...

Geithner Pushes Congress to Raise Debt Ceiling
Reuters reports: Republicans acknowledged on Thursday they will have to sign off on more Deficit spending to avoid a Debt default that would roil Financial Markets and bring the government to a grinding halt. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pressed lawmakers to raise the nation’s $14.3 Trillion Debt Limit to allow the United States to borrow more and avert a crisis in the coming months. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, a Republican, said he recognized the need to allow the ...

Geithner Urges Congress to Increase Debt Limit
The Obama Administration has formally urged Congress to increase the government’s borrowing limit, now $14.3 Trillion, as early as the end of March and no later than May 16 to avoid an unprecedented default. The letter from Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner arrived a day after a new Congress convened with Republicans now holding a majority in the House and a larger minority in the Senate, and with many of the newcomers pledged to vote against any increase in the Debt Limit. Raising it is...

Geithner Urges Congress to Raise Debt Limit
WASHINGTON - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner warned congressional leaders Thursday that the government could reach its borrowing limit by spring and failure to raise it could affect millions of American jobs. The government will reach the limit between March 31 and May 16, Geithner said in a letter to congressional leaders. Not increasing the $14.3 Trillion Debt Limit could lead to Job Losses, he said. Inaction could drive up Interest Rates and make it more costly for U.S. companies to bor...

GOP faces spending test as debt nears $14.3T ceiling
The Obama Administration on Thursday told Congress the government is about to hit the $14.3 Trillion Debt ceiling and will need authority to borrow more, kicking off the first major test of spending restraint and the strength of Republicans' new congressional power. Republicans said they won't agree to a higher Debt Limit unless Democrats agree to strict new spending controls. Democrats warned the GOP not "to play chicken" with The Economy and said hitting the limit could be worse than the finan...

Graham Explains What Happens If GOP Blocks Debt Ceiling Increase: Collapse and Calamity Throughout The World
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner announced today that the United States will hit its $14.3 Trillion Debt Limit on March 31 of this year. If Congress does not move to increase the National Debt ceiling by that time, “disastrous consequences” for the nation’s economy will result, according to a report from the Center for American Progress. Despite the real danger, many Republicans in Congress are trying to use the Debt ceiling as a political chip in order to impose draconian spe...

Geithner Urges Congress to Raise Debt Limit
(WASHINGTON) — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner warned congressional leaders Thursday that the government could reach its borrowing limit by spring and failure to raise it could affect millions of American jobs. The government will reach the limit between March 31 and May 16, Geithner said in a letter to congressional leaders. Not increasing the $14.3 Trillion Debt Limit could lead to Job Losses, he said. Inaction could drive up Interest Rates and make it more costly for U.S. companies...

Ano honest Question About the Debt Ceiling
So we seem to be facing a problem: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner warned congressional leaders Thursday that the government could reach its borrowing limit by spring and failure to raise it could affect millions of American jobs. The government will reach the limit between March 31 and May 16, Geithner said in a letter to congressional leaders. Not increasing the $14.3 Trillion Debt Limit could lead to Job Losses, he said. Inaction could drive up Interest Rates and make it more costly f...

Debt ceiling could be hit by end of March
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on Thursday urged lawmakers to act soon to increase the Debt ceiling, warning that failure to do so would be disastrous for The Economy and for Americans. In a letter to congressional leaders, Geithner said Treasury estimates that U.S. borrowing needs could push the amount of Debt past the legal borrowing limit of $14.294 Trillion sometime between March 31 and May 16. Email Print Comment The Debt ceiling has never been reached. But failure ...

Baucus warns GOP against 'playing chicken' on debt limit
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is warning Republicans against "playing chicken" on increasing the statutory Debt Limit. The Finance Committee Chairman agreed with recent GOP calls to reduce the Deficit, but said such efforts should be done in a "serious, Bipartisan Fashion" that "doesn't risk the full faith and credit of our economy and our country in the process," according to a statement released by his office. "Rather than waiting until the last minute, we need to work together with our colleagu...

Hatch says it's up to Obama to pressure Senate Dems on debt limit
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) says if Democrats want to find agreement on raising the Debt ceiling, President Obama will have to pressure congressional leaders to make serious concessions on Spending Cuts.  Hatch said he expects the new Republican majority in the House to vote to slash spending considerably in the run up to the vote on raising the Debt ceiling, which will place the ball in the court of Senate Democrats.   "That means the White House will have to exert its influence over Senate D...

Thoughts on the Debt Limit Debate
The origins of the Federal Government’s statutory Debt Limit can be traced back to 1917, when the country was borrowing money to finance the Great War. Congress has voted to increase the limit numerous times over the decades, including 10 times since 2001. The present Debt Limit is $14.3 Trillion, and total outstanding Debt subject to the limit currently stands at just under $14 trillion. Given that policymakers don’t have the will to cut spending immediately in order to keep the deb...

US Treasury asks Congress to lift debt ceiling
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner asked Congress to raise the US Debt ceiling on Thursday, firing the starting gun on a fresh political battle over the country's massive debt. In a letter to senior members of Congress Geithner warned a failure to raise the Debt ceiling from $14.29 Trillion could prompt a US default as soon as this March, with "catastrophic economic consequences." "Never in our history has Congress failed to increase the Debt Limit when necessary. Failure to raise the limit wou...

Geithner says U.S. could hit debt limit by March 31
WASHINGTON | Thu Jan 6, 2011 10:17am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States could hit the legal limit on its ability to borrow as soon as March 31 and faces serious consequences unless Congress acts by then to raise it, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday. "Even a short-term or limited default would have catastrophic economic consequences that would last for decades," Geithner said in a letter to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that was issued by Treasury. (Repor...

Republicans acknowledge debt limit should rise
By David Lawder, Andy Sullivan and Glen Somerville WASHINGTON | Thu Jan 6, 2011 7:52pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans acknowledged on Thursday they will have to sign off on more Deficit spending to avoid a Debt default that would roil Financial Markets and bring the government to a grinding halt. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pressed lawmakers to raise the nation's $14.3 Trillion Debt Limit to allow the United States to borrow more and avert a crisis in the coming months. House ...

Debt limit already a hot-button issue for GOP
In power scarcely a day, House Republicans bluntly told the White House on Thursday its request to raise the nation’s $14.3 Trillion Debt Limit will require federal Spending Cuts to win their approval, laying down an early marker in a new era of divided government. Speaker John Boehner made the challenge as the new GOP majority voted to cut funding for House members’ own offices and committee operations by $35 million. Rank and File Republicans described that vote as a mere down paym...

Raising The Debt Ceiling Would Require Serious Spending Cuts
Republicans lost the trust of the American People during the last decade because they were fiscally irresponsible when they controlled all three branches of the Federal Government. Such recklessness helped allow Democrats to take over Congress in 2006 and the Presidency in 2008. While they were in power, Democrats showed even less restraint, spending Taxpayer money as if they were on Steroids and bringing the country close to hitting the Debt ceiling. During the Midterm Elections, Americans thr...

US Treasury asks Congress to lift debt ceiling...
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner asked Congress to raise the US Debt ceiling Thursday, firing the starting gun for a fresh political battle over the country's massive Deficit. ...

Paul Abrams: On the Debt Ceiling, Silence is Golden: Let Wall Street Battle the Tea Party.
When asked about the Debt ceiling, the President and the Treasury should simply state that the United States of America will pay its debts, now and in the future. Always. Period. When asked again, repeat the above. And, the Senate should pass a typical Debt ceiling increase quickly and send it to the House. Remember all that certainty stuff that business craves to create jobs that was a reason to extend the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthy? Then, sit back and let Wall Street Lobbyists do battle w...

House GOP Challenges Obama on Debt Limit
In power scarcely a day, House Republicans bluntly told the White House on Thursday its request to raise the nation's $14.3 Trillion Debt Limit will require federal Spending Cuts to win their approval, laying down an early marker in a new era of divide......

Can We Shut Down the Federal Government Even If We Raise the Debt Ceiling?
In a recent article on the upcoming 112th Congress, the Associated Press warned that gridlock between the Republican House and the Democratic Senate might result in a failure to act that “could threaten the nation’s economic health.” Are they kidding? What do they think has been going on for the past two years, when Democrats controlled both chambers and the White House, and put us further in Debt than the first 100 Congresses combined? Gridlock in Congress is the best pre...

Media Give Obama a Pass on Debt Ceiling Hypocrisy
President Obama has taken an admirable stand for fiscal Austerity, and blasted attempts to yet again raise the Debt ceiling, which currently stands at $14.3 Trillion (with a T) - or roughly the GDP of the United States. Said the president: The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s Debt Limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign coun...

GOP faces spending test as debt nears $14.3T ceiling
The Obama Administration on Thursday told Congress the government is about to hit the $14.3 Trillion Debt ceiling and will need authority to borrow more, kicking off the first major test of spending restraint and the strength of Republicans' new congre......

Michele Bachman and Anthony Weiner Square off on the GOP Agenda, Debt Ceiling
Bachmann: "Barack Obama accumulated 4 times the Debt of George Bush, so I think we need to put to bed that false canard that somehow Barack Obama was digging out under George Bush. Barack Obama created a Tsunami of Debt and that's why a few short weeks ago the American People repealed Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House and 2 years from now we will Repeal Barack Obama as President of the United States From Fox News Hannity ...

Obama, Republicans in high-stakes debt fight
The high-stakes battle came as Obama continued his White House overhaul in the wake of a November 2 Elections rout of Democrats by picking William Daley, commerce secretary under Bill Clinton, as his new Chief of Staff. Daley, 62, is seen as a Centrist powerbroker and has strong ties to the US business community, with which the president has had a rocky relationship, and has strongly backed efforts to expand international trade. The move came one day after Republicans took over the House of Re...