The Debt Limit: History and Recent Increases
"Total debt of the federal government can increase in two ways. First, debt increases when the
government sells debt to the public to finance budget deficits and acquire the financial resources
needed to meet its obligations. This increases debt held by the public. Second, debt increases
when the federal government issues debt to certain government accounts, such as the Social
Security, Medicare, and Transportation trust funds, in exchange for their reported surpluses. This
increases debt held by government accounts. The sum of debt held by the public and debt held by
government accounts is the total federal debt. Surpluses generally reduce debt held by the public,
while deficits raise it...

The House’s adoption of the conference report on the FY2010 budget resolution (S.Con.Res. 13)
on April 29, 2009, triggered the automatic passage of H.J.Res. 45 to raise the debt limit to
$13.029 trillion. In August 2009, Treasury reportedly said that the debt limit would be reached in
mid-October, although the Treasury later stated that the limit would not be reached until mid or
late December 2009. H.R. 4314, passed by the House on December 16, 2009, and by the Senate
on December 24, raised the debt limit to $12.394 trillion when the President signed the measure
(P.L. 111-123) on December 28. On January 28, the Senate passed an amended version of
H.J.Res. 45, which the House passed on February 4 and the President signed on February 12. This
report, written with the assistance of Joseph McCormack, will be updated as events warrant."