The debt ceiling in the United States has been around for a while. Since 1939 the debt ceiling has been raised a total of 84 times. 55 of those times it has been raised by a Republican President. The biggest offender? Ronald Reagan. Reagan raised the debt ceiling a total of 18 times during his 8 years in the White House. Which President skyrocketed the national debt the most? George W. Bush. He raised it a total of seven times in his eight years. When George W. Bush entered the office in 2001 the national debt stood at about 5.5 trillion dollars. When he left in 2009 he had raised it to 11.8 trillion dollars. That's a record increase by far for a single president.Just in case you were wondering the budget submitted by Republican senator Paul Ryan, which would replace Medicare with "Block Grants" would raise the National debt ceiling 8 times if it were enacted. The progressive budget that was submitted by President Obama's Budget Committee, which was made up by both Republican and Democratic former politicians, would raise the debt ceiling not even once if it were enacted. It would pay down the national debt but it would take decades. By 2021 the progressive budget would be running surpluses in the annual federal budget all without any devastating cuts to either Social Security or Medicare.
