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AIMD-96-49R 1 (1996-02-23)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaclbt0001 and id is 1 raw text is: A O) United States (3 O General Accounting Office Washington, D.C. 20548 Accounting and Information Management Division B-270619 February 23, 1996 The Honorable Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Senate Dear Senator Moynihan: Your January 16, 1996, letter requested information on past debt ceiling limitations and actions that the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) has taken to avoid defaulting on government obligations. In our January 26, 1996, letter to you, we discussed actions taken by Treasury during debt ceiling crises since September 30, 1984.' As agreed with your office, the enclosure to this letter provides information on (1) when the outstanding debt subject to the statutory debt limit was within $25 million2 of the public debt limit between July 1, 1954, and September 30, 1984, (2) the debt ceiling crises occurring between September 30, 1984, and February 15, 1996, and (3) when the statutory debt ceiling has been revised since June 26, 1946. CHANGES IN THE DEBT CEILING The federal government began with a public debt of about $78 million in 1789 and since then the Congress has attempted'to control the size of the debt by imposing ceilings on the amount of public debt that can be issued. Until 1941, the Congress set ceilings on the various types of Treasury securities that could be issued. In February 1941, the Congress set an overall ceiling of $65 billion on all types of Treasury securities that could be outstanding at any one time. This ceiling was raised several times between February 1941 and June 1946 when a ceiling of $275 billion was set and remained in effect until August 1954. At that time, the Congress imposed the first temporary debt ceiling which added $6 billion to the $275 billion permanent ceiling. Since that time, the Congress has enacted 'Debt Ceiling Limitations and Treasury Actions (GAO/AIMD-96-38R, January 26, 1996). 2During the current crisis, Treasury has maintained a $25 million difference between the outstanding debt and the debt limit. GAO/AIMD-96-49R Information on Debt Ceiling* Limitations and Increases

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