September 10,2007

Finance Committee To Address Debt Limit

10:00 a.m. business meeting will include vote to raise debt ceiling

Washington, DC – Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) announced today that members will consider and vote on an increase in the public debt limit. The vote will take place at a business meeting to be held this Wednesday, September 12, at 10:00 a.m. in Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 215. It is projected that the current debt limit of $8.965 trillion will be reached in early October. The Finance Committee will consider a joint resolution, already passed by the House of Representatives, raising the debt limit by $850 billion to $9.815 trillion. This will be the fifth time Congress has been forced to raise the debt limit since 2001.

“Raising the debt limit is not a task we look forward to, but we have a responsibility to keep the government going and the Finance Committee will act in a timely fashion. There should be no doubt that the Federal government will meet its financial obligations,” Baucus said. “It’s my hope that greater fiscal responsibility and the pay-go policies we’re working to follow in this Congress will stave off the need for another vote like this for some time.”

# # #