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The United States debt ceiling or debt limit is a legislative limit on the amount of national debt that can be issued by the US Treasury, thus limiting how much money the federal government may borrow. The debt ceiling is an aggregate figure which applies to the gross debt, which includes debt in the hands of the public and in intra-government accounts. (About 0.5% of debt is not covered by the ceiling.〔(The Debt Limit: History and Recent Increases, October 2013 ), p 4.〕) Because expenditures are authorized by separate legislation, the debt ceiling does not directly limit government deficits. In effect, it can only restrain the Treasury from paying for expenditures and other financial obligations after the limit has been reached, but which have already been approved (in the budget) and appropriated. When the debt ceiling is actually reached without an increase in the limit having been enacted, Treasury will need to resort to "extraordinary measures" to temporarily finance government expenditures and obligations until a resolution can be reached. The Treasury has never reached the point of exhausting extraordinary measures, resulting in default, although on some occasions, Congress appeared like it would allow a default to take place. If this situation were to occur, it is unclear whether Treasury would be able to prioritize payments on debt to avoid a default on its bond obligations, but it would at least have to default on some of its non-bond payment obligations. A protracted default could trigger a variety of economic problems including a financial crisis, and a decline in output that would put the country into an economic recession.〔(Potential Macroeconomic Impact of Debt Ceiling Brinkmanship ). US Department of the Treasury, 2013.〕 Management of the United States public debt is an important part of the macroeconomics of the United States economy and finance system, and the debt ceiling is a constraint on the executive's ability to manage the U.S. economy. There is debate, however, on how the U.S. economy should be managed, and whether a debt ceiling is an appropriate mechanism for restraining government spending. ==Background== Under Article I Section 8 of the United States Constitution, only Congress can authorise the borrowing of money on the credit of the United States. From the founding of the United States until 1917, Congress directly authorized each individual debt issued. To provide more flexibility to finance the United States' involvement in World War I, Congress modified the method by which it authorized debt in the Second Liberty Bond Act of 1917.〔P.L. 65-43, 40 Stat. 288, enacted September 24, 1917, Currently codified as amended as 31 U.S.C. § 3101.〕 Under this Act, Congress established an aggregate limit, or "ceiling," on the total amount of new bonds that could be issued. The present debt ceiling is an aggregate limit applied to nearly all federal debt, which was substantially established by the Public Debt Acts〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Public Debt Acts: Major Acts of Congress )〕 of 1939 and 1941 which have subsequently been amended to change the ceiling amount. From time to time, political disputes arise when the Treasury advises Congress that the debt ceiling is about to be reached and indicating that a default is imminent. When the debt ceiling is reached, and pending an increase in the limit, Treasury may resort to "extraordinary measures" to buy more time before the ceiling can be raised by Congress. The United States has never reached the point of default where Treasury was incapable of paying U.S. debt obligations, though it has been close on several occasions. The only exception was during the War of 1812 when parts of Washington D.C. including the Treasury were burned. In 2011, the United States reached a crisis point of near default on public debt. The delay in raising the debt ceiling resulted in the first downgrade in the United States credit rating, a sharp drop in the stock market, and an increase in borrowing costs. Congress raised the debt limit with the Budget Control Act of 2011, which added to the fiscal cliff when the new ceiling was reached on December 31, 2012. Another debt ceiling crisis arose in early 2013 when the ceiling was reached again, and Treasury adopted extraordinary measures to avoid a default. The 2013 crisis was resolved, for the time being, on February 4, 2013, President Barack Obama signed the No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013 to, besides other things, suspend the debt ceiling until May 19, 2013. After May 19, the debt ceiling was raised to $16.699 trillion, the level of debt incurred during the suspension, and Treasury resumed extraordinary measures. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew notified Congress that these measures would be exhausted by October 17, 2013. On October 7, 2013 Treasury indicated that the debt ceiling and extraordinary measures will be exhausted and that a default will occur on October 17 when interest payments are due. On November 3, 2015, the debt ceiling would be reached again.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Jack Lew warns Congress over debt ceiling )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「United States debt ceiling」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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