Obama Signs to Raise the Federal Debt Limit

Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

By: Lesley Rozycki 02-21-14

Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

For once, members of Congress get the job done.

President Barack Obama signed two separate bills Saturday afternoon to raise the federal debt limit and reinstate military benefit cuts to younger retirees.

The debt limit measure allows the government to borrow money to pay its bills including Social Security benefits and federal salaries.

The Treasury Department is now free to borrow regularly through mid-March of next year, meaning the issue will not have to be revisited until a new Congress is sworn in after the midterm elections.

Legislation passed in December would have set annual living expense increases for veterans age 62 and younger to a percentage point below the rate of inflation beginning next year.

The cuts enacted less than two months ago, would have saved the government $7 billion over the next decade. Veterans groups and some lawmakers against the measure campaigned to have the benefits restored.