US Govt. Near Debt Limit

US Treasury Secretary John Snow has told Congress to raise the government's credit limit in order to avoid shutting down some of its operations. The government needs Congressional authority to borrow and the total accumulated debt is now close to its $8.2 trillion limit.
Congress is expected to agree to an extension. In a letter to Congress, Mr Snow said he's already taken "prudent and legal actions" to avoid reaching the debt limit.

These include tapping the civil service pension funds and using the $15 billion in the Exchange Stabilisation Fund, a reserve held for smoothing out volatile movements in the value of the dollar in currency markets. The Treasury has warned that such measures will only postpone the credit deadline until mid-March, when an extension will sorely be needed. This is the fourth time George W Bush's administration has asked Congress to raise the government debt limit. His administration has produced a series of massive deficits, brought on by the post dot-com recession, tax cuts, the September 11 attacks and wars and reconstruction in Afghanistan and Iraq.


credit: BBC News