Our debt ceiling crisis could hit as early as June. Here's how Biden can sidestep it.

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

52% : It included $917 billion in direct spending cuts, mostly implemented by capping "discretionary" spending, which includes defense programs and everything else the government does that isn't a mandatory entitlement program like Social Security, food stamps, or veterans' benefits.
49% : Issuing quasi-debt while the crisis plays outSteven Schwarcz, a professor at Duke Law and expert on capital markets, has proposed getting around the debt ceiling by having the Treasury Department create a "special-purpose entity" to issue new securities, distinct from traditional Treasury bonds, that can pay for government expenditures.
44% : Because the deal took cuts to Social Security, Medicaid, and the beneficiary side of Medicare off the table, the toll on Americans was lighter than it could have been.
43% : But funding for environmental protection and parks fell by 15 percent; general government operations by 26 percent; education and job training by 14 percent; diplomacy and foreign aid by 19 percent; agriculture, energy, and commerce by 19 percent.
42% : Social Security and Medicare are still hot potatoes, and while other "mandatory" programs like food stamps are less popular, Democrats have historically held firm against any cuts to them.
41% : Raising taxes without congressional authority would usurp Congress's taxing power.
41% : And while Republicans have ideological reasons to want to cut Social Security and Medicare, their older-than-average voting base, combined with those programs' overwhelming popularity, also give them reasons to avoid cuts in this area.
37% : The 2018 and 2019 budget deals under Trump increased the caps still further and barely included any offsets, driven largely by a Republican desire to restore defense spending.
22% : The Obama White House took a firm line against any deal that cut Social Security or Medicare without increasing taxes.

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