Money & budgets
debt limit
The statutory cap on total federal borrowing. Raising it does not authorize new spending; it lets Treasury pay for spending Congress already enacted.
In full
Congress controls borrowing as well as spending, and since 1917 it has done so through an aggregate ceiling. Hitting the limit does not stop obligations from coming due; it stops Treasury from borrowing to pay them, forcing 'extraordinary measures' and, if unresolved, risking default. The recurring standoffs are possible precisely because the limit is disconnected from the spending and tax laws that create the debt.
Also written as: debt ceiling, extraordinary measures
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A plain-language explanation for civic education, not legal advice. When in doubt, the official source named above controls.