As you might have heard, last week Congress finally negotiated an end to the debt ceiling crisis. The basics of the deal are well-known: Republicans agreed to raise the debt ceiling through the next election in exchange for significant spending cuts. But how does the deal actually work?

Our new FAQ should help you understand the details behind the deal. The procedures put in place by the new law are complex, and the final budgetary outcome will depend on a variety of factors. This document translates the law into understandable language, and lays out its potential outcomes.

If you have any questions we haven’t answered in the FAQ, let us know by leaving them in the comments section of this post. We’ll do our best to answer them and help make this complicated law as clear as possible.

Image by Flickr user o5com used under a Creative Commons license.