President Barack Obama signed
legislation on Saturday that raises the U.S. debt limit through March
2015, taking the politically volatile issue off the table with
congressional elections coming up this November.
Without an increase in the statutory debt limit, the U.S. government
would have soon defaulted on some of its obligations and would have had
to shut down some programs, an historic event that would have caused
severe market turmoil.
On a
long holiday weekend in a desert resort area in southern California,
Obama put his signature on the legislation without fanfare, while behind
closed doors at the Sunnylands retreat.
It was a quiet end to the latest chapter in what has been one of the
more challenging aspects of his presidency, as he and his fellow
Democrats have repeatedly sparred with Republicans over increasing the
country's borrowing authority.
Extending the debt ceiling to March 2015 means the issue may not get caught up in election-year politics.
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