Debt ceiling fight is just getting started

We're in the first inning of another seemingly inevitable debt limit fight.

Driving the news: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen informed Congressional leaders Friday that the federal government would likely hit the debt limit on Thursday. As a result, Treasury will have to take "extraordinary measures" to keep paying creditors who own the U.S. government's bonds.

These measures are things like running down Treasury's cash balances and delaying making payments to certain government pension funds, to make sure there's enough money to pay bondholders.

The big picture: Votes to raise the debt ceiling — once a bipartisan chip shot — have become increasingly fraught in recent years, typically when Republicans are in control of the House of Representatives and Democrats hold the White House, as is currently the case.