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Jemal Contes/Getty Images for Peter G. Peters
Jemal Contes/Getty Images for Peter G. Peters
Every year, the U.S. government spends more than it takes in. To finance all that spending, the U.S. has to borrow money. Congress has the power to limit how much the U.S. can borrow. Currently, the debt ceiling is $31.4 trillion. Once that ceiling is reached, Congress has a few options so that the government can continue to pay its bills: raise the debt ceiling, suspend the debt ceiling, or remove the debt ceiling altogether.
The debate and negotiations are back again this season. One thing that is scarce, but critical to these negotiations, is good information. Shai Akabas of the Bipartisan Policy Center knows this all too well. Right now, he and his team are looking at exactly when the U.S. government will run out of money to meet its obligations — what they call “Date X.”
“Being an expert on the debt ceiling is a little like being an expert on termites,” Shai said. “No one is really going to be happy to hear the news you have to share, but they do need to know it.”
“It’s like a big office party,” said Shay Akabas, center, director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. But the cake, he said, came “in the form of data.”
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“It’s like a big office party,” said Shay Akabas, center, director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. But the cake, he said, came “in the form of data.”
AMANDA ALONZIK/NPR
Tchai is determined to help the administration avoid a deadline that leaves it without a solution. But this year’s debt ceiling negotiations are not going well. “The political situation this year is probably worse than in the past,” said Tchai, who has personally experienced the debt ceiling negotiations over the past decade.
That’s daunting because if lawmakers don’t act, the impact on the global economy could be enormous.
So how did Shai become Think Tank Experts Want to learn about the debt ceiling? It all started in 2011, when he and current Fed Chairman Jay Powell, armed with slides and deadlines, helped avert economic disaster. Listen to the podcast to hear about that story, and what the Treasury is doing now to prevent disaster. Hint: They’re deploying some “extraordinary measures.”
Today’s show was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler, with assistance from Alyssa Jeong Perry. Josh Newell was in charge of planning, and Sierra Juarez was in charge of fact-checking. Jess Jiang was in charge of editing.
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