The ongoing standoff over raising the nation's borrowing limit is a new experience for many members of Congress, with roughly two in three lawmakers coming to Congress after the 2011 debt ceiling fight.
Just 175 of the 535 members of the House and Senate — or 33% of current lawmakers — were serving in Congress during the 2011 fight, according to an NBC News analysis of current members and votes for the Budget Control Act, which raised the debt ceiling and imposed automatic spending cuts.
Those lawmakers include 99 Democrats, 75 Republicans and one independent. Most of the lawmakers still in office — 111 — supported the Budget Control Act, which averted a national default.
Three of those lawmakers — Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — will be huddling with President Joe Biden on Tuesday to try and find common ground again. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who will be representing House Democrats at the White House Tuesday, was not serving in Congress during the last debt limit fight.
Most of the turnover has taken place in the House. Just 118 current House members were present for the 2011 standoff, compared to 57 senators, several of whom were serving in the House at the time.
