The United States government was recently given the gift of borrowed time to deal with the spending deficit, which led to the hitting of the debt ceiling, the legal borrowing limit of the American government, a few weeks ago. Congress was given until August to make the proper alterations to reduce spending and make the necessary changes to decrease the national debt and the national deficit.
As anyone who has followed politics could expect, Republicans and Democrats are struggling to come to a compromise on where to make the needed spending cuts to fix the problems facing the nation.
President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats wants to change the way entitlement programs work. Republicans want to change Medicare completely. Other vital issues include, but are not limited to, taxes, Social Security reform, and Medicaid reform.
Wednesday, Obama spoke with Republicans in the House of Representatives about increasing the debt ceiling. However, Obama did not offer any plans to cut spending or change programs to save money in the future. As a result, the sides, which are coming at each other from completely different spectrums, were not able to come to an agreement and Obama’s request to raise the debt ceiling was turned down by the House Republicans.
The need to raise the debt ceiling is crucial for the White House. Officials are not allowed to borrow any more money without specific authorization from Congress. As a result, in times of desperate need for money, the White House cannot simply borrow the necessary money, but instead officials now have to knock on Congress’ door first and ask for permission.
The biggest problem with the negotiations is that neither side is willing to compromise too much on many issues. Reports coming out of the meeting rooms say that there is a solid amount of progress being made as Republicans and Democrats continue to meet. However, the progress is coming too slow and not at a level high enough for the growing problems to be taken care of.
It is hard to predict exactly what type of effect a borrowing freeze would have on the American economy and the standard of living for American citizens. It is unquestionable that the ultimate goal of all members of Congress and the American government is to come to a final agreement so that we would never have to know what would happen with a borrowing freeze.
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