The Treasury Department is once again warning that the federal government is approaching the limit of how much it can legally borrow, reviving a fight in Washington that has become a near yearly ritual over the past two decades.
The debt limit caps how much the government can borrow to pay for spending Congress has already approved, rather than authorizing any new spending itself. When the cap is reached, the Treasury typically turns to a set of accounting maneuvers known as extraordinary measures to keep paying the government's bills for a period of weeks or months while lawmakers negotiate a fix.
Economists and market analysts have long warned that failing to raise or suspend the limit in time could force the United States into a default on its obligations, an outcome that has never happened and that most experts say would ripple through global financial markets and raise borrowing costs for the government itself.
Congress has historically resolved these standoffs at the last minute, sometimes tying an increase to the limit to unrelated spending or policy provisions as part of broader negotiations. Both parties have used the deadline as leverage in the past, and this round is expected to follow a similar pattern of brinkmanship before any resolution.
Treasury officials have not said precisely when the government would run out of options if Congress fails to act, though such estimates typically become more specific as the deadline approaches.