Financial markets are suggesting the political drama surroundingcongressional efforts to raise the nation's debt ceiling will playout more like the lesser of two recent showdowns.

Investor angst, as measured by the CBOE Volatility Index, knownas both the VIX and the fear index, is below the levels experiencedduring 2011 and 2013 confrontations, even as lawmakers face ofdeadline of a little more than a month to reach an agreement.

The protracted battle in 2011 led S&P Global Ratings todowngrade the U.S.'s sovereign debt for the first time. In 2013,Congress struck a last-minute deal to end a four-week standoff thateconomists say took a notch out of economic growth and forced theFederal Reserve to put off tapering its bond purchases. Thisgo-round could tweak the Fed's monetary agenda again.