Republicans claim it's out of control government spending associated with the "Obama agenda" that is to blame for the "debt problem", but recent government spending has not significantly changed other than the one time expenditure of the stimulus and spending related to the economic downturn.
Rather it is the Republican policies of deficit financed tax cuts and spending which is responsible for much of the debt.
And NO, the Democrat Congresses are not responsible for the deficits under Reagan and Bush I.
Republican policies and the economic downturn resulted in a decade of surpluses being turned into a decade of deficits.
And future debt, likewise, is primarily the result of Republican policies and the economic downturn.
The Republicans claim we have a "debt crisis," but if Congress does nothing, debt will decrease as a percentage of GDP all the way out to 2050.
In summary, Republican fiscal recklessness is responsible for the current large amount of debt. Republicans believe the solution to this problem of their own creation is to jeopardize the US credit rating by abusing an antiquated method of raising the debt level. Even though this could lead to billions in additional interest payments and billions in lost revenue from an economic downturn, Republicans think that the inability to pass a simple bill giving the Treasury permission to pay for spending that has already taken place will calm the markets and show the world that the US is serious and capable of handling the more complex issues associated with its "debt problem." Or they could just do nothing and the debt problem would take care of itself.
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