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Lessons from the 2011 debt limit fight

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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says the U.S. will reach its borrowing limit Thursday, and that she will begin “extraordinary measures” to continue paying the country's bills, measures that will avoid a default until around June. Congress has to agree to raise the debt limit to avoid a default.

Here & Now's Scott Tong speaks with NPR political correspondent Susan Davis about what happened in 2011 when the U.S. was hurtling towards a default but narrowly averted it.

This segment aired on January 19, 2023.

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