President-elect Donald Trump has called on Congress to extend the U.S. debt ceiling, emphasizing that avoiding a federal default is his top priority. The debt ceiling, which expired at the end of 2023 ...

WASHINGTON — Democrats could have lifted the debt ceiling while they still controlled both the House and Senate, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Wednesday, but they declined to do it for ...

The debt ceiling issue has entangled Congress in yet more partisan gamesmanship. The two sides agreed to an emergency extension into December, averting the immediate crisis, but Senate Minority Leader ...

Senators voted to approve a short-term increase to the federal debt ceiling on Thursday night, ending a weekslong standoff on Capitol Hill and likely averting a default that could have triggered a ...

WASHINGTON — Congressional leaders are hatching a complicated plan to lift the debt limit this month with only Democratic votes in the Senate, three sources told NBC News. The strategy, which remains ...

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) pulled out all the stops last week to move a debt ceiling bill through the House, twisting arms, modifying language and cutting last-minute deals with leery ...

A screen shows the national debt clock after the US hit its debt limit and the Treasury started using extraordinary measures to avoid default (Photo by Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) The ...

House Republicans from swing districts are flatly rejecting the White House’s position that there be no negotiations with Congress over raising the national debt ceiling, insisting that they won’t ...

WASHINGTON — The Senate passed a bill Thursday that will enable Congress to lift the debt ceiling and avert what would be the first-ever default in U.S. history. The legislation, which already cleared ...

America’s national debt hit $8.27 trillion in March 2006 when then-Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., called the national debt “a sign of leadership failure” and promised to vote against raising the debt ...

Unless Congress and the White House reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling, real people could suffer, from service members to Social Security recipients to would-be homebuyers. Talks aimed at lifting ...