U.S. bumps against debt ceiling, sparking mini-crisis on Capitol HillLast Updated Mon, 06 Mar 2006 15:27:49 EST
CBC News
The United States is bumping against its debt ceiling, precipitating fears that the nation could soon default on its obligations.
U.S. Treasury officials warned Congress last week that Washington's debt levels were coming close to the nation's legal limit of $8.2 trillion. Any more debt, the officials said, and Washington might have to default, forcing the nation into a technical bankruptcy as early as March 20.

Experts have warned President Bush to trim his spending
While no expert really expects the United States to file for bankruptcy any time soon, the issue has ignited a minor crisis on Capitol Hill.
Treasury Secretary John Snow notified the U.S. Congress on Monday that the administration has now taken "all prudent and legal actions" to prevent the nation's national debt limit from being reached.
And he offered a solution, familiar to many consumers: raise the debt ceiling.
In a letter to Congress, Snow urged lawmakers to raise the nation's credit limit to avoid what could become the first default in the nation's history.
In the meantime, Snow is buying time. He plans to put off a financial crisis by dipping into the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund for a few billion dollars that he can use to avoid a default.
President George W. Bush has said he wants to cut the deficit in half by 2009, the year he leaves office.
Doug Porter, senior vice-president of BMO Nesbitt Burns in Toronto, said he isn't overly concerned by the latest debt crisis in Washington.
"The U.S. has been through this kind of semi-drama several times in the past 10 years," he told CBC.ca. "The issue pops up every few years. Politicians use it as a tool."
He said Washington has a variety of means to avoid hitting its debt ceiling. One of the most common is to dip into federal pension funds for a temporary cash fix. That is the method that Snow said he intends to use.
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"It is really a paper game," Porter said, adding that Washington can stave off the crisis by transferring money from one account to another.
Washington will no doubt survive its latest crisis, Porter said, but he warned that Washington will have to keep an eye on its debt levels.
"The debt has been higher in the past," he said, while adding it's "certainly a problem."