Debt Limit | featured news

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.

Republicans intend to stage a vote in the House next week on legislation to raise the nation's debt limit without requiring spending cuts, a measure expected to fail.

Top congressional Republicans on Sunday suggested they could compromise on the two biggest issues -- healthcare and taxes -- that stand in the way of a deal to get the United States' debt under control.

The Senate majority leader says budget reductions must be accompanied by tax reform. He predicts that negotiations on the nation's debt limit will drag until the 11th hour. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says tax loopholes must be addressed ...

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.

The House speaker takes a hard line on increasing the nation's borrowing limit. A top Democrat says he's 'playing with fire.' House Speaker John A. Boehner said Monday that Republicans wanted trillions in budget cuts in exchange for their vote to increase the nation's borrowing limit and avoid default, adopting a hard line on the party's position in a speech before major players on Wall Street.