Political Science Essay: US Debt Ceiling Debates of 2011 and 2013

This essay examines the US debt ceiling debates of 2011 and 2013, focusing on the political conflicts between the Republican party and the government, particularly concerning government spending and deficit reduction. The essay highlights the debates' potential economic impacts, including concerns about business and consumer confidence, stock market volatility, and interest rates. The author references reports from the Washington Post and the New York Times to illustrate the context and outcomes of these debates, including the eventual resolution of the 2013 crisis. The analysis indicates increased political volatility in the US and the potential disruption of future budget sessions, emphasizing the complexities of government procedures.

Running head: POLITICS
POLITICS
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1POLITICS
“The Obama administration warned Thursday that a prolonged debate over whether to
raise the federal debt ceiling would harm the economy by depressing business and consumer
confidence, increasing stock market volatility, erasing household wealth and increasing interest
rates on mortgage and corporate loans”, reports the Washington Post (Goldfarb 2013). These
statements from the report reflects the general feeling about the prolonged debates concerning
the federal debt ceiling, and how a lack of permanent resolution may potentially harm the
economy by various means as mentioned.
The 2011 debt ceiling debate was based on various factors and one important was the
level of appropriateness of the government spending and how government spending or funding is
effecting the “national debt and deficit”. During 2011 the Republican party has demanded that
the head of American state must negotiate and endeavor towards “deficit reduction in exchange”.
In the previous times the debt ceilings had been raised or manipulated without much debate and
discussion. The debt ceiling is not the budget that decides the spending but it is actually the
existing amount of spending that the government has already committed and is bound to pay.
This 2011 debate on the debt ceiling and the prolonged discussion about the ways in which the
spending may be managed reflects a more complicated system where even the pace of the
government activities may be affected. The US Congress has set a “debt ceiling” above which
the “Treasury” cannot borrow any money.
2013 saw another debate that may be termed as the extension of the debate of 2011, and it
was also about the raising of the “debt ceiling” by the American government. The “debt ceiling
crisis” of 2011 had resulted in the raise of the amount to 16.394 trillion dollars and in 2013 the
country reached the ceiling and the debate was about further extension of the debt ceiling. The
Republican party opposed the upward movement of debt ceiling by the years. “ Congressional

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Republicans conceded defeat on Wednesday in their bitter budget fight with President Obama
over the new health care law as the House and Senate approved last-minute legislation ending a
disruptive 16-day government shutdown and extending federal borrowing power to avert a
financial default with potentially worldwide economic repercussions” reports the New York
Times (Parker 2013). Therefore it is found that ultimately the Republicans had moved from their
stance of opposing the debt ceiling rise and had been defeated in reasoning and the debt ceiling
problem was resolved by the senate which voted overwhelmingly to approve the proposal of the
government.
The process which was previously carried out by the government without much debate
over the issue now had to be passed by the Senate only after long term debate sessions; so long
that iit could possibly harm the economy. This indicates the volatility and increased rivalry in
American politics and the government procedures becoming further complicated because of that.
The situation indicates that the Congress budget sessions may be disrupted in the coming days in
the same way.

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Reference:
Goldfarb, Zachary. 2013. "Long Debate Over Debt Ceiling Could Harm Economy, Reports
Says". Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/long-debate-over-debt-
ceiling-could-harm-economy-reports-says/2013/10/03/992c482e-2c35-11e3-b139-
029811dbb57f_story.html?utm_term=.a2e27874398a.
Parker, Jonathan. 2013. "Republicans Back Down, Ending Crisis Over Shutdown And Debt
Limit". Nytimes.Com. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/17/us/congress-budget-debate.html.