The Debt Ceiling is not the same as the national debt. The ceiling itself is a sum of all the public debt, including the money that is borrowed to pay government bills such as Veteran's benefits, worker's salaries and interest payments on the debt. The only other industrialized country that has such an outdated mechanism is Denmark, and their Debt Ceiling is set high enough to avoid using their debt in political brinksmanship*.
The Debt Ceiling allows for a minority party to hold the entire country hostage and prevents measures to address issues of national importance. It needs to be eliminated in order to bring sanity back to Congress.
*) http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/10/11/why-do-only-us-and-denmar...