AF-Austin – In Search of Sanity: COVID-19 & Government Spending

As the conversation around the COVID-19 response continues and the debate about what metrics must be reached before society can return to normal rages on, Americans should prepare themselves for another important discussion: what to do about the looming debt limit.

The current two-year suspension of the federal government’s debt limit is set to expire on July 31, 2021. U.S. Treasury officials will likely be able to push this deadline back to Sept. 30, when fiscal year 2021 funding runs out, citing “extraordinary measures.” Without suspending or raising the debt limit by then, the federal government will no longer be able to issue debt and will be forced to default on financial obligations leading to a rapid rise in interest rates and subsequent economic fallout.

Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Chief Economist and former White House Associate Director for Economic Policy Dr. Vance Ginn will join us for our August networking event to discuss the current situation and the path forward.