Raising the U.S. federal government’s debt ceiling is usually a routine matter; the Bush administration raised it several times. Yet, last month, this regular policy took an interesting turn, quickly developing into a full-fledged financial crisis.

 

The vote on raising the debt ceiling became the center of conflict between the Republicans — who recently took control of the House — and President Obama and the Democrats controlling the Senate. A majority of Republicans were initially against increasing taxes and proposed larger spending cuts while Democrats favored tax increases with smaller spending cuts.

On July 31, a deal to raise the debt ceiling was announced. The House approved the compromise debt-ceiling bill Aug. 1 and the Senate approved it Aug. 2. That same day, Obama signed the bill and sent a formal request to Congress to lift the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, instantly giving the U.S. Treasury $400 billion in additional borrowing power.

The Daily Orange asked the experts, ‘How have the debt ceiling negotiations affected college students?’

Meet the expert: Kristi Andersen, political science professor

‘One of the hidden conflicts is the generational conflict, the aging of the population and the demands that this puts on the population — on health care, Medicare, social security. It all creates challenges for the young generation. The government deficit also shows that people are really constraining with what they can do in terms of funding.’

Meet the expert: Leonard Burman, public administration professor

‘The economy is very weak right now, with 9 percent unemployment, and it’s gonna go up. Part of what keeps us in a recession is that people have lost faith in the economy, and anything that shakes consumer or business confidence could make things worse and push us into a deeper recession. This affects the generation of students because, well, they’re out looking for jobs.’

Meet the expert: John Palmer, senior research associate at the Campbell Public Affairs Institute at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs

‘If we don’t deal with our federal debt in a timely manner, it’s going to affect our long-term economic growth, and that’ll immediately affect this generation especially — you won’t have the same job opportunities nor will you have the same standard of living.’

Meet the expert: Michael Wasylenko, senior associate dean for academics and administration at Maxwell

‘The direct effect on students is that the federal government has already looked at education. They’ve looked at student loans and Pell Grants. The whole area of financial aid that college students and their families rely on is all in a vulnerable area.’

meltagou@syr.edu