It is perfectly meaningless – remember that as our liberals get all breathless and call us irresponsible for not jacking it up. The only reason to raise it is in order to go further in to debt – not raising it does not put at risk of default: going further in to debt, does.
All we need to do is cut spending, and we’ll be in good fiscal shape – failure to cut spending is what puts America’s future at risk, not failure to become even more indebted.