Treasury Wants More Credit

Imagine maxing out your credit card, and then asking your bank to raise your spending limit.

That's essentially what the Treasury Department will have to do now that the U.S. has bumped up against its legislated national debt limit. This week the country's maximum credit limit, $8.18 trillion, was reached. That breaks down to nearly $30,000 for every person in the nation.

"It is imperative that Congress raise the debt ceiling by the middle of March," says Treasury spokeswoman Brookly McLaughlin. Congress and the Bush administration have been negotiating a roughly $781 billion extension for the current limit. If it passes, it will be the fourth increase since 2002 and bring the total amount of additional government borrowing authority to more than $3 trillion since President Bush took office. ...