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Will it take a market crash for Congress to raise debt limit?

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Posted at 8:06 PM, Mar 11, 2023
and last updated 2023-03-11 20:06:39-05

WASHINGTON (AP) — What might it take to get President Joe Biden and Congress to reach a deal on raising the debt limit?

According to several economists and a former White House official, the financial markets might need to crash before lawmakers are forced to act.

Every other time before, Congress has found agreement on the debt ceiling. The question now, in a period of ever-increasing political polarization, is whether today is different.

Republicans and Democrats have been dancing around each other about the need to raise the government’s legal borrowing authority.

That maneuvering could last for several more months until the last possible moment, when the federal government would hit a currently unknown “X-date” and be unable to pay its bills.