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January 18, 2013 GOP leaders in the House say that will give Democrats in the Senate time to pass a budget that cuts spending. And if Congress doesn't pass a budget, they say, lawmakers shouldn't get their full pay. The move could put off another bruising battle over the borrowing limit.

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January 10, 2013 Just for the sake of financial fun, we've calculated how much platinum it would actually take to mint a coin with $1 trillion worth of the metal in it. Turns out, it's probably more platinum than mankind has available on the market right now.

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August 7, 2012 On today's Planet Money: The legend of the national debt. Where the debt came from, what happened the one time we paid it all off, and who came up with the whole debt-ceiling idea in the first place.

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August 9, 2011 Sen. Harry Reid has made his picks for the deficit super committee whose task it is to recommend with $1.5 trillion in federal spending cuts over 10 years — Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts, Patty Murray of Washington State and Max Baucus of Montana.

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August 5, 2011 The downgrade by Standard & Poor's is guaranteed to become a major piece of evidence used by Obama's political opponents against him, as they make the case that he has failed to lead the nation and should not be rewarded with a second term.

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• DOWNGRADE: S&P Lowers U.S. Rating To AA-Plus
• PLANET MONEY: Effects Of A Downgrade

August 3, 2011 What Washington was worried about and what many Americans have been worrying about has seemed out of synch in recent weeks.The fiery Washington debate was about the debt-ceiling, while the concerns of millions of Americans was about jobs, either finding or keeping one.For Democrats, the debt ceiling debate was a distraction from the jobs message they view as key to their re-election efforts.

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• Unemployment In Your State

August 2, 2011 Democrats may have yielded on their demand for tax increases to achieve the debt-ceiling deal President Obama signed into law Tuesday. But in an interview on All Things Considered, Sen. Harry Reid had a warning for congressional Republicans: Later this year when Congress has to decide on additional ways to cut federal deficits, Democrats intend to stand firm on the need for more tax revenues.

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• Reid Blames House, Delta For FAA Shutdown

August 2, 2011 With the debt-ceiling legislation signed into law Tuesday afternoon, the nation no longer needs to worry about defaultmageddon, at least not until early 2013. That's when the U.S. Treasury once again runs out of room to borrow again. Even though there wasn't a default this time, the partisan fight did plenty of damage. Among the casualties: Obama and lawmakers' images.

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• OBAMA: Signs Bill To Raise Debt Ceiling
• PICTURE SHOW: Where Does Money Go To Die?
• BIDEN: May Have Been An Inspired Choice
• BALANCED BUDGET: GOP Revives Idea

August 2, 2011 In choosing Biden to be his vice president, he apparently got even more, seemingly the only person in the Obama White House trusted enough by Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and minority leader, to make the debt-ceiling deal happen and prevent the nation from a first-time ever default.

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August 1, 2011 In the first hour of Talk of the Nation, the ongoing negotiations to raise the debt ceiling, and Philip Rubio on what we'll lose if we lose our neighborhood post office. In the second hour, sociology professor C.J. Pascoe explains the psychology of humiliation, and the NFL.

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August 1, 2011 Romney's opposition to the debt ceiling deal is designed to keep him on the same page as the army of conservatives who oppose it. He's aiming for the sweet spot of their discontent.

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July 29, 2011 KHNIf an impasse were to drag on for more than a few weeks, health care providers could be unable to pay their staffs or even face insolvency, say health care experts and former government officials.

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