What is the Debt Ceiling?
The debt ceiling is the maximum amount of debt that the united states is allowed to rack up. Currently, our debt is at 31.4 trillion US Dollars. If we hit the debt ceiling and don’t raise it higher, there will be catastrophic consequences. For example, the stock market could crash and the US Dollar will be worth less. In addition to this, the government won’t be able to do the things that it needs to in order for our country to function as it should.

What Are the Solutions?

There are various fixes to the issue that are being proposed by both the Republican and Democratic parties.

Here’s what the Republicans are saying:

• Speaker of the house Kevin McCarthy says that the United States cannot raise the debt ceiling because that would only make our debt worse and not fix our problem. He wants the United States to cut back government spending and begin paying back the money America owes. For reference, the government spends money on our military, education, Social Security (which is the pay check people earn after they retire), and Medicare (which is healthcare for lower income families).
• Texan representative Charles (Chip) Roy wants to return our spending habits back to how it was in 2022. Then, over the next 10 years, the budget will be balanced out.

Overall, Republicans have a new budget in mind for the future of the country. Some parts of this new budget include, reducing spending and taxes by by 14.4 trillion and 1.9 trillion respectively and allowing private plans for Medicare to compete with the public version by combining all of Medicare into one federal option.

Here’s what Democrats are saying:

• The leader of the house of Democrats, Hakeem Jeffries, says that the issue will be resolved without being forced to meet the requests of the Republicans. He is willing to work with them in order to come to a decision that everyone can agree on.
• Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, says that “We [Democrats] will not be doing any negotiation over the debt ceiling”.

Overall, Democrats are very much against the ideas the Republican party have presented in order to fix the solution. As of right now, there’s no agreement on what Congress should do in order to fix this monumental issue.