Steven Mnuchin calls out debt limit as a 'ridiculous concept'

[McFurd]

CNNMoney - 3/24/2017 - Jeanne Sahadi "We've spent the money. So the concept of the debt limit is somewhat of a ridiculous concept. ... This is a payment limitation," Mnuchin said in an interview with Axios cofounder Mike Allen. The debt limit -- currently set at $19.81 trillion -- is a cap on how much outstanding public debt the United States may hold. But since revenue coming into the government doesn't keep pace with the spending commitments that lawmakers have made over the years, Treasury must borrow to make up the difference to keep paying all the country's legal obligations in full and on time. Those obligations are vast, and include payments to federal contractors, interest to bondholders and benefit and refund checks to individuals. So the debt limit essentially caps Treasury's ability to keep paying everything the United States owes. Read more @ http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/24/news/ec ... ?iid=SF_LN