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Good morning from the Financial Times.

Today is Thursday, January 19th, and this is your FT News Briefing.

The US government is expected to max out on its giant credit card today.

Microsoft is cutting jobs, but it's still spending on what it sees as the future.

Plus, the FT's Katie Martin has been hearing a lot about European Union frustration

with the US climate subsidies.

We have just heard so much belly aching from the Europeans saying,

this isn't fair, there's been quite a kind of diplomatic spat.

I'm Mark Philippineau, and here's the news you need to start your day.

The US is expected to hit its debt ceiling today.

That means the federal government won't be able to borrow any more money.

And hitting this $31 trillion limit will set the stage for a dramatic showdown between Democrats

and Republicans. Here's the FT's Deputy Washington Bureau Chief Lauren Fedor.

Once upon a time, this was a fairly straightforward process.

But in the last decade, 15 years or so, we've seen it become increasingly partisan.

They need to pass a piece of legislation, just like any other piece of legislation,

in order to raise this limit.

But this time around, we already have a very vocal group of Republican lawmakers who are saying

they're not up for doing that, unless the other side makes some concessions.

Okay, we should point out that this battle over the debt limit happens

...