The debt limit (also called the debt ceiling) is established in law and limits the amount of debt that the federal government can issue. This 2011 Q&A addresses questions about the U.S. Debt Limit. more

This May 2011 addendum used the recent  Congressional Budget Office (CBO) data and certain revised assumptions. Pew's updated projections estimated that, absent any corrective action, publicly held federal debt would reach 111 percent of GDP by 2025, the highest level in American history. more

States spent an estimated $131 billion on transportation in fiscal year 2010, but many cannot answer critical questions about what returns this investment is generating. more

A new fiscal fact sheet by Pew examines major legislative policies and other drivers of federal debt over the last decade to explain the difference between 2001 projections and the reality today. more

In September 2010, the Pew Fiscal Analysis Initiative released No Silver Bullet: Paths for Reducing the Federal Debt, which analyzed the implications of rising federal debt and modeled different remedies for reducing it to 60 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in fiscal years 2025 or 2035. Since then, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has updated its 10-year projections to reflect the most recent economic data as well as the cost of new legislation enacted after August 2010.