1.   A three-fifths vote would be required to increase the federal debt.

2.   Congress was frantically trying to complete a bill raising the federal debt ceiling in time for President Bush to sign today.

3.   Congress was once again considering raising the federal debt ceiling.

4.   In accounting terms, this maneuver has the same effect as paying off the government securities and reducing the federal debt.

5.   An agreement would help curb the amount of federal debt, enabling the government to sell its bonds, notes and bills at lower interest rates.

6.   And if it reduced the Federal debt by the same amount, it could increase national wealth and lower the cost of private investment.

7.   And cutting the deficit, after all, was the goal in playing chicken with the federal debt.

8.   And the federal government itself is about to run out of money, because House Republicans are unwilling to face reality and increase the federal debt limit.

9.   And there is almost a bipartisan agreement to use all of whatever surplus there is only within the system to pay down federal debt.

10.   And the doomsday of fiscal crises, a potential default on the federal debt, was but six weeks away.