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1A

Life And Debt: Unpacking The Federal Debt Ceiling

1A

NPR

News

4.34.5K Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2023

⏱️ 44 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Congressional leaders will meet with President Joe Biden next week to discuss the federal debt ceiling as they face a looming deadline to avoid a default on U.S. debt obligations.

The Treasury Department has warned that if an agreement isn't reached prior to June 1, there could be severe implications for global markets and the U.S. economy.

The federal debt ceiling has been in place for more than a hundred years. But it's been the subject of consistent conflicts internally between congressional leaders and the White House for more than a decade now.

We discuss debt ceiling and potential solutions to avoid a government default. It's the first installment of our ongoing series with Bloomberg: Life and Debt.

Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Find out how to connect with us by visiting our website.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Congressional leaders are set to meet with President Biden again as negotiations over

0:12.4

raising the nation's debt limit continue.

0:14.9

The Treasury Department warns that the U.S. could default on its debts if an agreement

0:18.9

isn't reached as soon as June 1st, and there could be dire consequences for the U.S.

0:23.7

economy and financial markets across the globe.

0:26.8

The federal debt ceiling has been in place for more than 100 years, but raising the debt

0:31.3

limit has been the subject of conflicts between congressional leaders and the White House

0:34.7

consistently only over the past decade or so.

0:38.3

It's also a big issue with a lot of you.

0:40.6

Kevin McCarthy, talking about cutting the national debt, I suggest all elected officials

0:48.2

take a salary deduction.

0:50.4

But I truly believe that we need to stop spending money we don't have.

0:56.4

The debt ceiling is the debt ceiling if they want to talk about the budget, they can

0:59.5

do that at the appropriate time.

1:02.2

So how could a federal government default impact your job and your retirement?

1:07.2

Do we really need a federal debt limit at all?

1:11.0

We're launching a new series in partnership with Bloomberg.

1:13.4

It's called Life and Debt.

1:14.7

We're going to talk about credit cards, student loans, medical debt, and a lot more.

1:19.6

After the break, we start the series by taking a look at the federal debt limit.

1:23.4

I'm Todd Zwillik from Vice News, InfraGen White.

1:25.9

We're listening to the 1A podcast where we get to the heart of the story.

...

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