Debt Ceiling May Be Reach Near Election Day

The $16.4 trillion debt ceiling could be reached just weeks after Election Day, according to a new report.

The analysis raises the possibility that lawmakers might have to raise the nation’s borrowing limit before the election, a scenario they took pains to avoid in the debt deal passed in August.

Now, partially due to lower than expected tax receipts, the nation could reach the $16.4 trillion debt limit as early as late November, according to an analysis from the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) to be released Friday.

“Congress, the administration and outside analysts believed that this increase would allow federal borrowing under the limit until well into 2013,” writes Steve Bell, senior director of economic policy at BPC. “Due to unexpected circumstances … that belief appears increasingly likely to have been misguided.”

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