What actually happened was that Congress voted to effectively suspend the debt ceiling from Oct. 17, 2013, through Feb. 7, 2014. In other words, they didn't raise the debt ceiling ― they eliminated it altogether until Feb 7 of next year.
As it turns out, this is the second time this year that Congress has essentially turned over the keys on debt spending. And there’s every reason to believe it will do so again when both sides pick up this fight in a few months.
Allowing the White House to raise the debt ceiling without congressional approval is a move reportedly favored by Obama, but conservative critics say it will lead to disastrous and unchecked increases in spending.
In 1917, Congress created the debt ceiling, technically known as the Second Liberty Bond Act.
Before the first debt ceiling was created, Congress has to approve each individual bond and increase in national debt. Passage of the first debt ceiling began the slow march of handing over power to the executive branch, allowing the president to issue bonds without congressional approval. The only requirement is that the total amount of bonds issued stay within the debt ceiling amount mandated by Congress.But during the 2012 debt ceiling debate, Congress took this handover of power one step further by giving President Obama a set period of time to increase the debt ceiling at his discretion. The No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013 suspended the debt ceiling from Feb. 4, 2013, to May, 19, 2013. After that, the actual debt ceiling was raised, but only enough to allow the government to safely pay its debts through October 17.
Read the entire article by clicking on the following: There is no debt ceiling in place, and here’s why - Yahoo News
