Snow Says Debt Limit Will Have to Go Up

[Khephra]

WASHINGTON -- Treasury Secretary John Snow told lawmakers Wednesday that the nation's debt limit will probably have to be raised sometime in late summer so the government can continue borrowing money.

Snow made the ballpark estimate while testifying before the House Budget Committee about the president's proposed budget, which shows the government expects to spend $521 billion more than it collects this year.

The timing could place Congress in the debate over debt financing shortly before the presidential election.

The legal limit on government debt currently sits at $7.4 trillion. Congress last year passed a record $984 billion boost when the borrowing authority ran out, after an intensely partisan debate over the president's economic policies.

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