Debt Ceiling | featured news

President Obama meets with Senate leaders, but no one wants to back away from tough stances on taxes. Debt-reduction talks between congressional leaders and the White House entered a crucial phase Monday, with no clear framework for resolving the deadlock over taxes and spending and a deadline for a potential federal default fast approaching.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned on Tuesday that a failure to lift the government's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling risks a potentially disastrous loss of confidence in America's creditworthiness.

Ratings agency Moody's warned on Thursday it would consider cutting the United States' coveted top-notch credit rating if the White House and Congress do not make progress by mid-July in talks to raise the debt limit.

House Republicans engineer the defeat of their own proposed $2.4 trillion increase in the debt limit because it did not come accompanied by spending cuts.

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Republican lawmakers are stepping up pressure on the Obama administration to craft a Plan B just in case budget talks fall through and the debt ceiling remains frozen past the Aug. 2 deadline Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has set.

A senior banking regulator urged Congress to raise the federal debt ceiling to prevent a "calamitous" government debt default.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Monday that he will immediately halt investments in two big government pension plans so the government can continue to borrow money....

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner warned in a letter to Congress that failure to raise the $14.294 trillion debt ceiling would drive up interest rates, push down household wealth, put more pressure on federal entitlement programs and cause a double-dip recession.