Some Inconvenient Truths About the National Debt

By ThinkProgress War Room on Jun 1, 2011 at 5:00 pm

How’d We Get Here?

As we draw closer to August 2, the drop-dead date by which the nation’s debt ceiling must be raised or the U.S. will risk economic calamity by defaulting on its obligations, Republicans continue to play political games with the economy. Last night, House Republicans staged a political stunt by bringing a $2.4 trillion increase in the nation’s borrowing limit that was not paired with any spending cuts up for a vote. Republicans designed the measure to fail (as it did, with the Democratic leadership also calling for a ‘no’ vote in protest) to try and gain political leverage over President Obama and the Democrats in the ongoing budget negotiations being led by Vice President Biden. Also tucked into this measure was poison pill language blaming President Obama for the nation’s fiscal woes. Since the GOP continues to have collective amnesia about how we got into this mess in the first place, here’s a handy chart from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP):