To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

Congress has routinely voted to raise the debt ceiling since 1917.

“It’s actually pretty bizarre,” said Rebecca Thiess, an analyst at the Economic Policy Institute. “It says that Congress has to vote again to authorize debt that they’ve already voted to authorize.”

While the formality has been used in the past by politicians to posture, many Democrats who’ve spent years on Capitol Hill say the measure has never been held hostage the way it was Friday.

“In the past, we have not said ‘we’re going to hold you up, we need to lift the debt ceiling, but we’re going to only do it if you do this, this, and this,’” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

That all changed with the 2010 elections when Tea Partiers voted several members into the House of Representatives.

“A whole bunch of people were elected as Republicans that belong to almost a cult, and their primary responsibility is to get rid of Obama,” said Representative Charles Rangel of New York.

Those involved in the conservative movement see their fervor differently.

“Almost all of this new freshman class are up here to turn the ship of state and get it going back in the other direction toward responsible fiscal action,” said Representative John Carter of Texas.

Conservative Republicans said they won’t raise the debt ceiling unless a plan to significantly reduce the country’s trillions in debt is put in place, but some said they’re playing with fire.

“It’s a little bit like going to a really nice restaurant and then getting the check and saying ‘I don’t want to pay for this,’” said Thiess.

Both sides do agree that not raising the debt ceiling would have a disastrous effect on the country’s economy and on the lives of most Americans.

“An increase in credit card interest, social security and veterans checks could be held up,” said Pelosi.

“At the end of the day, we have a responsibility to act,” said House Speaker John Boehner.

As the back door dealing to reach a consensus continues, one thing is clear: this is one battle few will ever forget.

“This is going to change the history of Congress forever,” said Rangel. “There’s no reason for people to believe that what they want done in the Congress ultimately will not be decided by a small group of people.”