The Looming Debt Ceiling Crisis: A Reminder of Past Turmoil.

The current debt ceiling fight between President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy is more precarious than the 2011 clash between a Democratic president and a Republican House, with a number of Republicans, including former President Trump, willing to allow a default to secure their objectives. The country is more polarized, the sides have been more unyielding, and McCarthy’s slim majority leaves him little room to maneuver within a conservative GOP conference that expects him to hold the line on spending cuts. The combination has raised the odds of an unprecedented default and rattled some veterans of past debt ceiling fights, who say this is the most precarious of them all.