For months now, August 2 was considered the absolute last day that the debt ceiling can be raised before the federal government becomes unable to meet its obligations. But the Obama administration has decided that a deal needs to be struck by July 22 in order to provide enough time to write the legislation and pass it through both chambers of Congress by August 2. So congressional leaders have just three more weeks to break their impasse, and the rest of us have three weeks to stock up on water and canned goods. [NYT, WSJ]
