This week Congress is voting to raise the debt limit by approximately $800 billion. The debt limit, which before this week was set at $7.4 trillion, serves as a ceiling that reflects the legal amount that the government can borrow. Although the Bush administration claimed in 2002 that the debt limit would be adequate until 2008, their prediction was incorrect. When Congress raises the level this week, it will mark the third time since 2002 that it has needed to be raised. See this Watcher article for more information.

On November 17th, the Senate voted 52-44 to increase the debt limit, and the House is expected to vote to pass an increase today. While raising the debt limit is a necessary manuever in order to ensure that normal monetary transactions continue, the frequency with which this has happened over the past three years should cause alarm.

The current level of debt is harmful to the economy; it threatens the stability of Social Security and Medicare benefits, and it also increases interest rates, slowing economic growth. And serious debt reduction will be extremely difficult in the future. Federal revenue is currently at its lowest in half a century, at just 16.2 percent output. President Bush's push for permanent tax cuts along with the ever increasing cost of the war - in tandem with this low level of revenue - will make it difficult for this government to reduce either the national debt or the yearly deficit.

Congress' work this week to increase the amount of money the government can borrow is necessary yet somewhat fruitless; the increase is needed to fund programs and agencies, yet it is driving our country further into debt. Lawmakers should ask themselves, as they continue to increase the debt limit on an almost annual basis, who will end up bearing the majority of this burden in the future.

For more information on the debt limit and the budget see this Center for American Progress article.