November 29, 2012 The Congress has traditionally placed a limit
on the total amount of debt that the Department of the Treasury
can issue to the public and to other federal agencies. Lawmakers
have enacted numerous increases to the debt limit—commonly known
as the debt ceiling—some of which have been temporary and many
of which have been permanent. Treasury debt is now approaching
the current limit. What Is the Current Debt Limit, and When Is
It Likely to Be Reached? The current statutory debt limit is
$16.394 trillion. As of November 27, 2012, debt subject to that
limit stood at $16.279 trillion—$115 billion below the statutory
ceiling. The Treasury anticipates that borrowing will reach the
current limit near the end of December 2012. However, because
the Treasury can take certain measures that it has used
previously when borrowing approached or reached the debt limit,
the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) expects that the
department will be able to continue funding government
activities without an increase