Pelosi backs Trump administration on debt ceiling increase

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi says she supports the Trump administration’s request to increase the government’s borrowing limit.

The increase was requested by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in two letters to Congress earlier this month.

Pelosi said she and fellow Democrats would support increasing the debt ceiling so long as it would be a “clean” increase that would be free of GOP add-ons.

Treasury reset the debt ceiling at $19.8 trillion this month and Mnuchin has begun employing accounting gimmicks to permit the government to avoid defaulting on obligations such as interest payments, Social Security benefits and other payments.

The government has never defaulted on the debt and policymakers and investors say any default could cause severe consequences for the economy.

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