U.S. Edition
New York (CNNMoney) - The House on Wednesday passed the "No Budget, No Pay Act," a Republican bill that would effectively defuse the debt ceiling threat for several months.
The bill would let the Treasury Department borrow new money until mid-May. In exchange, the legislation would require lawmakers in both chambers of Congress to pass a budget resolution or have their pay withheld until they do.
New York (CNNMoney) - The debt ceiling standoff isn't over just yet. But there's a chance it may be soon, at least temporarily.
On Wednesday the House is expected to vote on a Republican bill that would let the Treasury Department borrow new money until mid-May.
New York (CNNMoney) - The Obama administration on Monday turned up the heat on Congress to raise the debt ceiling.
The Treasury Department, hours after President Obama again said he would not negotiate with Congress over the issue, said it will run out of ways to keep the country under the legal borrowing limit sometime between mid-February and early March.
New York (CNNMoney) - The list of sorry ways to address the unthinkable is growing. Call the latest debt ceiling work-around the IOU Plan.
Edward Kleinbard, a tax and legal scholar, has offered up a contingency plan he thinks President Obama could adopt without causing a constitutional crisis if Congress pushes the country to the brink of default: Issue IOUs that can be sold and traded in private markets.
New York (CNNMoney) – Congress narrowly avoided pushing the country off the fiscal cliff. But it has done nothing to address the next and potentially bigger risk to the economy: the need to raise the debt ceiling.
To help separate fact from fiction in the battle, here's what you need to know about the issue.
New York (CNNMoney) - Brinksmanship over the debt ceiling could make the fiscal cliff standoff look like child's play.
Right after the House passed the fiscal cliff compromise, President Obama said, "I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they've already racked up through the laws that they passed."
New York (CNNMoney) – For the near term? Good. For the long term? Oh, puh-leeze.
That, in a nutshell, summarizes how independent deficit hawks view the fiscal cliff compromise that Congress passed on Tuesday and which President Obama signed into law Wednesday.
New York (CNNMoney) - Budget experts in Washington have seen lots of "big" fiscal deals over the years that end up resulting in far less than advertised.
So they are watching closely to see what kind of a deal the White House and Congress make to avert the fiscal cliff.
New York (CNNMoney) - Often missing from the hyper-politicized debate over spending cuts and tax increases is a central point: Why the federal budget is on an unsustainable course.
Today, the United States spends about 71 cents of every federal tax dollar it collects on the Big 4: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and interest on the debt.
New York (CNNMoney) – In all the rhetorical noise about the fiscal cliff, the discussion has focused most heavily on the Bush-era income tax cuts.
Neither party wants to raise income taxes on the middle class, which has come to be defined as families making below $250,000.