I'm mystified. If total government debt including obligations of the states is $12T why does the debt ceiling have to be raised above $14.3T for the Federal Government alone ?
Also there's the small matter of the Net Present Value of the future obligations of the Federal Government Social programs (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Federal pensions etc etc ) currently estimated at anything between $48T and $78T. ( Future Pension obligations of the States and Municipalities of course are not included). The Federal Government is a bit like Enron, the nasty bits are kept off the balance sheet.
Total government debt including obligations of the states is not $12T. Public government debt including obligations of the states is (according to the article) $12T. Public government debt is a subset of total government debt, which also includes intragovernment debts (including Social "Security").