The $31.4T statutory cap on the federal issuance of debt is set to be reached today, prompting the Treasury Department to adopt a series of accounting maneuvers to continue borrowing until June. Congress must pass legislation to raise or suspend the debt ceiling (see 101) by that time or risk failing to pay its bills. The US paid roughly $475B in interest last year.
Although the debt limit has been increased dozens of times over the last century, the debt-to-GDP ratio has eclipsed 100% for the last nine years; a number reached only at the height of World War II. Some Republican members of the House of Representatives are looking to reduce spending in exchange for supporting a raise in the debt cap. The White House, in turn, has indicated it won\'t negotiate the debt limit, setting up the possibility of a government default.
In the meantime, the Treasury will enact "extraordinary measures" involving the suspension of investments in several intragovernmental funds. Watch a quick explainer here. |
Ukraine\'s top interior ministry officials were killed yesterday morning after a government helicopter crashed near a nursery during foggy conditions in Brovary, a residential suburb east of the capital of Kyiv. At least 14 people died, including a child, and 25 were injured. It wasn\'t clear whether the crash was an accident or connected to the war. Officials are investigating the cause.
Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi (see background), who oversaw Ukraine\'s police and emergency services, is the most senior official killed since Russia\'s invasion of Ukraine. First Deputy Minister Yevhen Yenin and Internal Affairs Chief Yuri Lubkovych were also killed in the crash.
Separately, Ukrainian forces continued to fight Russia in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which has become a key battlefield. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged political leaders via video at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to send Western supplies of weapons quickly to fend off Russia\'s missile strikes. The US is expected to announce another military package for Ukraine.
See map updates of the war here. |
A French nun believed to be the world\'s oldest known person passed away yesterday at the age of 118. Lucile Randon, also known as Sister André, passed away from natural causes in the city of Toulon. Randon, was born while Teddy Roosevelt was president, a year after the first baseball World Series, and four years before the introduction of the Ford Model T. She would have turned 119 years old Feb. 11.
In the US, demographers estimate one in roughly 5,000 people are above the age of 100, a figure that has doubled since 1990. Roughly 85% of centenarians are women—a phenomenon that is not well understood. Supercentenarians, those 110 years old and above, are exceptionally rare, with only 0.1% of people who hit the 100-year milestone living past their 110th birthday.
American Maria Branyas Morera becomes the oldest known person at age 115 (turning 116 in March). See a list of world\'s oldest known people here. |
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