Won't someone show some leadership on the issue?!...

Won't someone show some leadership on the issue?!

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/meet-the-new-debt-ceiling-22-03-trillion

Meet the new debt ceiling: $22.03 trillion

by Pete Kasperowicz
| March 04, 2019 04:21 PM

The U.S. government has been living under a new debt ceiling since the weekend: roughly $22.03 trillion.

The debt ceiling took effect again on Saturday after it was suspended for more than a year. That suspension allowed the government to borrow whatever it wants, free of any legal restriction or cap.
But on March 2, the ceiling was back in effect, and was equal to the total amount of borrowing seen up through March 1. The government put that number at about $22.03 trillion on Monday, although the total debt will fluctuate around that number.

Barring a sudden breakthrough to radically reduce federal spending, the next problem for Congress is how to raise the ceiling. The Treasury Department has the flexibility to keep the government running after the debt limit has been hit, usually by delaying some forms of routine borrowing.
But these "extraordinary measures" can't avoid the problem forever, and last week, Congress was told Treasury can probably keep juggling the books until September or October, after which an increase in the debt ceiling would be needed.
For the last several years, Congress has decided not to raise the ceiling as it has in the past to a specific limit. Instead, Congress has opted to suspend the ceiling altogether, and that appears to be the most likely way out this time around.
Last week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned Congress that it must act to ensure the ceiling is raised somehow so the U.S. doesn't default on its debt or current spending commitments.
"Honoring the full faith and credit of the United States is a critical commitment,” Mnuchin wrote in a letter to lawmakers. "I encourage Congress to raise the debt limit."
The national debt hit $22 trillion for the first time last month, less than a year after it hit $21 trillion.