CBS News reports that the federal government has exceeded the current debt limit, and that only budget tricks are keeping the government from legally being forced to shut down.
The [debt] ceiling was set at $12.104 trillion dollars. The latest posting by Treasury shows the National Debt at nearly $12.135 trillion.
A senior Treasury official told CBS News that the department has some “extraordinary accounting tools” it can use to give the government breathing room in the range of $150-billion when the Debt exceeds the Debt Ceiling.
The House yesterday narrowly passed an increase to the debt ceiling to nearly $12.4 trillion. The bill must now pass the Senate.
