Federal Debt and the Statutory Limit

The debt limit—commonly called the debt ceiling—is the maximum amount of debt that the Department of the Treasury can issue to the public or to other federal agencies. The amount is set by law and has been increased over the years to finance the government’s operations. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019 (Public Law 116-37) suspended that limit until July 31, 2021.

On August 1, the debt limit was reset to $28.4 trillion; on the following day, the Treasury announced a “debt issuance suspension period” during which, under current law, it may take “extraordinary measures” to borrow additional funds without breaching the debt ceiling.