The need to raise the debt limit usually creates partisan debate in Washington. Conservative Republicans like to use the debt limit issue as leverage to demand cuts in spending but Democrats and moderate Republicans usually oppose such ultimatums on the grounds that the borrowings are used to fund spending approved previously by Congress.
This year, with Trump's legislative agenda stalled and Congress preoccupied by Trump's firing of former FBI director James Comey, the House Republicans known as the House Freedom Caucus along with outside conservative groups are again demanding spending cuts for support to raise the debt limit.
In 2011 the failure to raise the debt limit in a timely way and the possibility that the U.S. government might default on its obligations led to the U.S. losing its prized triple-A credit rating from Standard & Poor's.
Since mid-March the U.S. Treasury has been using emergency funding powers to postpone hitting the debt limit and those measures had been expected to last until about October, but lower tax receipts so far this year may mean the debt limit will be hit sooner-than-expected.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urged Congress last month to raise the debt ceiling before lawmakers break for a long August summer recess, a call echoed last week by House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.
This article was provided by Reuters.