The United States on Monday hit the almost $14.3 trillion limit on the amount of money the government may legally borrow to help finance its operations. As a stopgap measure, the treasury secretary halted investments in two big government pension plans. After attending a White House meeting last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders has said that President Obama and Congress should not give in to Republican "blackmail" demands for trillions of dollars in spending cuts as the price for raising the debt limit. He also has laid out his own proposals to lower deficits. In a speech last Thursday, Sanders also pinned the blame for deficits on unfunded wars, unfunded tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, an unfunded bailout of Wall Street and an unfunded prescription drug program rigged to pad profits for drug makers.

"Many of us are sick and tired of seeing this country being blackmailed by Republican demands. These people are apparently willing to plunge the entire world into a financial crisis by not lifting the debt ceiling if they don't get their way," Sander told MSNBC.

To bring down deficits, Sanders would both cut spending and raise more revenue. He favors a surtax on millionaires, for example.

To read more on Sanders' budget proposals to reduce deficits, click here.

To watch Sanders and the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee debate what caused federal budget deficits, click here.

To read "America Held Hostage," a Monday column by The New York Times' Paul Krugman, click here.

To watch Lawrence O'Donnell interview Sanders last Wednesday, click here.