Many newly elected Republican members of Congress explicitly refused to raise the federal debt ceiling during their campaigns. Problem is, the federal debt ceiling kinda needs to be raised, soon! Can John Boehner get these kids to do it?

Sad to say it, but we are very near our $14.3 trillion federal debt ceiling, folks. It will need to be raised early next year, and it will be one of Boehner's first tasks in the new Congress to get this done. Either that, or the entire global financial system will explode overnight again, and we'll all be living in subterranean dirt holes for the next 600-700 years.

It's very, very easy during a political campaign to pledge that you won't vote to raise the debt ceiling. That's why you shouldn't make such a pledge. But whatever, this is John Boehner's problem now:

Raising the debt ceiling is shaping up as a difficult early vote for the new House GOP majority. Many of the new Republican lawmakers harshly criticized their Democratic opponents during the campaign for voting to raise the limit in the past, citing it as an example of the Democrats' recklessness with federal tax dollars.

But on Thursday, Minority Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio) said he's been talking to the newly elected GOP lawmakers about the need to raise the federal debt ceiling when it comes up early next year.

"I've made it pretty clear to them that as we get into next year, it's pretty clear that Congress is going to have to deal with this," Mr. Boehner, who is slated to become House speaker in January, told reporters.

"We're going to have to deal with it as adults," he said, in what apparently are his most explicit comments to date. "Whether we like it or not, the federal government has obligations and we have obligations on our part."

We're all going to die.

[Image of John Boehner with the new GOP House leadership team via AP]