The United States government has been in debt for a long time,  but this year they are unable to pay their dues. Many people were wondering what would happen if they didn’t meet their deadline of October 18th.

The government was first in debt in 1790. The last time our government didn’t have any type of debt was when President Andrew Jackson paid off the national debt on January 1, 1835.  Now, the U.S. government is currently in debt for $28.8 trillion dollars, and the amount is rising. Due to the government not being able to pay, there are many programs that will be affected by this issue, such as Medicare and Medicaid. It will also delay benefit payments for retirees, which are received by 65 million Americans. Even the educational system will be affected, because there may be a shortage of food in public schools’ cafeterias.

Thankfully, the U.S. House of Representatives had a meeting on October 7th, 2021. They voted in favor of raising the national debt ceiling, with the Democrats winning 50-48. The Senate agreed to extend the government’s ability to borrow money until early December, which means they are able to pay their debt off in the short term, but they do not have a long-term plan. A bill to raise the ceiling, even more, was sent to President Biden, and he is expected to approve and raise the ceiling by $480 billion. 

Republicans do not like how they raised the ceiling. “When directly voting on something might be too tough on Democratic members, just wave a magic wand and it will pass. Deem it passed…The American people will see through this sham,” said Republican Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma.

Raising the ceiling brought a lot of relief to the U.S. government.

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