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The Debt Limit Through the Years


The Debt Limit Through the Years | Bipartisan Policy Center

The first federal debt limit is set at $45 billion and gives the Treasury Department wide discretion over what borrowing instruments to use.

History of the United States debt ceiling - Wikipedia

No official ceiling published. · The debt rose to over $20.1 trillion on September 8, 2017, when the bill to continue the debt limit suspension for fiscal 2018 ...

Interactive: Recent History of the Debt Limit - Bipartisan Policy Center

On August 2, 2011, after months of deadlocked negotiations and only hours before the Treasury Department's deadline for Congress to act on the debt limit, ...

History of Debt Limit and Why It Matters - BGR Group

It has never been reduced. Since 1962 until 2011, the debt ceiling was raised 74 times, including 18 times under former President Ronald Reagan, eight times ...

Infographic: The Debt Ceiling - Peter G. Peterson Foundation

The debt ceiling, also known as the debt limit, is the maximum amount of money that the US Treasury can borrow.

The Debt Limit - CRS Reports

Some research suggests that debate over the debt limit in August 2011 reduced economic expansion in the second half of that year. Increasing the ...

What is the US debt ceiling and how has it changed over time?

The debt ceiling is currently set at $31.46 trillion. On May 1, 2023, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen informed Congress that the government could run out of ...

What Happens When the U.S. Hits Its Debt Ceiling?

While this move was rare during the first ninety years of the ceiling's existence, Congress has suspended the debt limit eight times since 2013, most recently ...

Debt Limit | U.S. Department of the Treasury

Congress has always acted when called upon to raise the debt limit. Since 1960, Congress has acted 78 separate times to permanently raise, temporarily extend, ...

U.S. Debt Ceiling: Definition, History, Pros, Cons, and Clashes

The debt ceiling was created under the Second Liberty Bond Act of 1917. If U.S. government national debt levels bump up against the ceiling, then the Treasury ...

What to Know About the History of the Debt Ceiling - Time

The first debt limit was established to give the Treasury autonomy over borrowing by allowing it to issue debt up to the ceiling without ...

What is the federal debt ceiling? - Brookings Institution

During this period, the Treasury borrowed an additional $6.4 trillion. When the suspension period expired in August 2021, the debt limit was reinstated at $28.4 ...

History of the Debt - TreasuryDirect

Our records show that debts incurred during the American Revolutionary War amounted to $75,463,476.52 by January 1, 1791. Over the following 45 years, the debt ...

United States debt ceiling - Wikipedia

In the United States, the debt ceiling or debt limit is a legislative limit on the amount of national debt that can be incurred by the U.S. Treasury, ...

Brief history of US debt limits before 1939 - PNAS

In 1939, Congress began imposing a limit on the par value of total federal debt outstanding. By summing Congressional borrowing authorizations outstanding each ...

Q&A: Everything You Should Know About the Debt Ceiling

The debt ceiling was first enacted in 1917 through the Second Liberty Bond Act and was set at $11.5 billion to simplify the process and enhance borrowing ...

Federal Debt and the Statutory Limit, February 2023

The amount is set by law and has been increased or suspended over the years to allow for the additional borrowing needed to finance the ...

The Debt Limit Since 2011 - CRS Reports

Rising debt levels, along with continued differences in fiscal policy views, led to a series of contentious debt limit episodes in recent years. Just after July ...

The Debt Ceiling: An Explainer | CEA - The White House

The debt limit is a ceiling imposed by Congress on the amount of debt that the U.S. Federal government can have outstanding. This limit has been ...

Manufactured Crisis: Understanding the Debt Limit

For over 80 years, Congress has placed a cap on the total debt the federal government can take on, which is known as the “debt ceiling ...