Secretary of the Treasury John Snow sent a letter to Congress Monday saying he has taken "all prudent and legal actions” to stay under the $8.184 trillion debt limit and again strongly urged passage of an increase “immediately." Congress, which must act or else they could default on payments to bond holders or fail to make other scheduled government payments, will most likely pass a debt limit increase. This will mark the fourth time the debt limit has needed to be increased under President Bush. If this new hike is approved, the limit will have jumped by $3 trillion since he took office. It is expected, however, that Senate Democrats will push for full debate on the increase. It is likely they will seek to amend the current situation and push for full restoration of pay-as-you-go rules, which would require all new mandatory spending and tax cuts to be offset.