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National debt ceiling 101: Is a crisis looming?

7. If this bogs down in a game of political chicken, how can the nation keep paying its bills?

Alex Brandon/AP/file
Erskine Bowles (l.) watches former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson speak at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington Nov. 10, 2010. They are co-chairs of President Obama's bipartisan deficit commission.

  • By Mark Trumbull Staff writer

The Treasury has some wiggle room. Private-sector analysts at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have estimated that short-term maneuvers could gain several months of running room, perhaps through the end of summer.

But the GAO report takes a different view.

"Once debt reaches the limit," it says, "Congress will likely have less time than in prior years to debate raising the debt limit before there are disruptions to government programs and services."

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