Tue, 19 May 2026
Hunch
Market10 Nov 2026

Will a higher US debt limit become law by 31 December?

BinaryResolves 31 Dec 2026
Hunch11%
Your forecast
  • Yes
  • No
Resolves 31 Dec 2026
Why these numbers

History. No count: the past years do not record the debt limit, so they cannot show whether it would rise.

Hunch. Reuters reported on 5 November that the government is unlikely to hit its borrowing limit until late next year, so nothing forces a vote before January.

How this resolves

The debt limit market resolves on the list of laws of the 119th Congress at congress.gov: YES if from 10 November to 31 December 2026 a law that raises the legal limit on federal borrowing comes into force, by a fast-track bill or a bill both parties vote for. The Guardian and CBS News are the backups.

The pattern behind it

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In six past years when the Senate never agreed a House budget plan for a fast-track bill, the House passed such a bill once, in May 2012, and five times passed none. None passed after an election.

We looked for cases where the US House passed a budget plan that opened the way to a reconciliation bill, with no more than five votes from the other party, and the Senate never agreed to such a plan for that year. We found six such years since 1990: 1998, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012 and 2013. (Congressional Research Service; Congressional Research Service)