“The United States will hit its statutory borrowing limit near the end of 2012, just as a new Congress gears up to do battle over the country’s huge debt burden and fiscal deficits.
The country’s current debt is around $16.2 trillion, and continued borrowing needs to finance the budget shortfall will send the government past the fixed $16.39 trillion sometime in the final days of the year.”
Source:US to hit borrowing ceiling at year-end: Treasury – FRANCE 24