U.S. Debt Ceiling Suspended

The House of Representatives passed a bill (H.R. 325) that would suspend the U.S. debt limit until May 18, which will allow the country to continue borrowing money to pay its bills. The U.S. government was set to reach its current debt limit in February, raising the possibility that the government would default on its loans. This three-month reprieve set forward by House Republicans gives Congress time to focus on two other looming fiscal problems. An across-the-board federal budget cut, called sequestration, is set to go into effect March 1 unless Congress stops it. For federal R&D agencies, these cuts would average around 8% of their annual budgets. And the continuing budget resolution that Congress passed to fund the government for the first six months of fiscal 2013, which started on Oct. 1, 2012, expires on March 27. Lawmakers will need to work out the 2013 budget before that date or the government will shut down. Senate Democrats say they will support H.R. 325, and the White House says it will not oppose it.