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Obama signs increase in US debt ceiling

350906_Barack ObamaUS President Barack Obama has signed a bill into law to raise the country’s debt ceiling through March 2015, preventing a government default.

The US president signed the legislation during his vacation in a desert resort area in southern California on Saturday.

The extension of the debt limit means the US government can borrow money above the current $17.2 trillion cap for the next 13 months to pay its bills, such as Social Security benefits and federal salaries.

The Senate passed the measure 67-31 earlier this week and sent it to Obama for his signature. The bill was approved by the Republican-led House on Tuesday in a 221-201 vote, largely on the backs of Democrats.

Reacting after the Senate vote, Obama said in a statement that “the full faith and credit of the United States is too important to use as leverage or a tool for extortion.”

He also said that “hopefully, this puts an end to politics by brinkmanship.”

Under a deal reached in mid-October to end the government shutdown, lawmakers extended the nation’s debt limit into the first week of February.

It was always understood that the Treasury could take “extraordinary measures” to extend the deadline even further.

However, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew had warned congressional leaders that the federal government would run out of money to pay its bills by February 27 if Congress failed to raise the debt limit.

Lew said the bills that the Treasury would fail to pay included everything from issuing Social Security checks to making payroll for federal workers and military personnel.

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