United States debt-ceiling crisis of 2013

The 2013 United States debt-ceiling crisis centered on the raising of the federal government debt ceiling, and is part of an ongoing political debate in the United States Congress about federal government spending and the national debt. The crisis began in January 2013, when the United States reached the debt ceiling of $16.394 trillion that had been enacted following the debt ceiling crisis of 2011.

Members of the Republican Party in Congress opposed raising the debt ceiling, which had been routinely raised previously on a bipartisan basis without conditions, without additional spending cuts. The US Treasury began taking extraordinary measures to enable payments, and stated that it would delay payments if funds could not be raised through extraordinary measures, and the debt ceiling was not raised. The crisis ended on October 17, 2013 with the passing of the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014, although debate continues about the appropriate level of government spending, and the use of the debt ceiling in such negotiations.

After the passing in early January 2013 of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 to avert the projected fiscal cliff, political attention shifted to the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling had technically been reached on December 31, 2012, when the Treasury Department commenced "extraordinary measures" to enable the continued financing of the government.

The debt ceiling is part of a law (Title 31 of the United States Code, section 3101) created by Congress. According to the Government Accountability Office, "The debt limit does not control or limit the ability of the federal government to run deficits or incur obligations. Rather, it is a limit on the ability to pay obligations already incurred." It does not prohibit Congress from creating further obligations upon the United States. The ceiling was last set at $16.4 trillion in 2011.

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