Yellen tells Congress U.S. could hit debt limit in mid-January : NPR

WASHINGTON – In a letter sent to Congressional leaders Friday afternoon, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she would like to see an “extraordinary He said that it was necessary to initiate special accounting measures. .

“Treasury expects to reach the statutory debt ceiling between January 14 and January 23,” Yellen said in a letter to House and Senate leaders, at which point the government The government said it would take extraordinary measures to prevent the country from exceeding its debt ceiling. Suspended until January 1, 2025.

The ministry has in the past deployed so-called “temporary measures” or fiscal maneuvers to keep the government running. But once those measures expire, the government risks default unless lawmakers and the president agree to lift limits on the U.S. government’s ability to borrow.

“I humbly ask Congress to act to fully protect the trust and confidence of the United States,” she said.

The news comes after President Joe Biden signed a bill last week that avoids a government shutdown but does not include President-elect Donald Trump’s core debt demands of raising or suspending the national debt ceiling. . The bill was first approved by Congress after intense debate within Republicans over how to address Trump’s demands. “Any other action would be a betrayal of our country,” President Trump said in a statement.

After a lengthy debate in the summer of 2023 over how to fund the government, policymakers included measures including suspending the country’s $31.4 trillion borrowing authority until January 1, 2025. Developed the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

Notably, however, Yellen announced on January 2 that debt is expected to temporarily decline due to scheduled redemptions of non-marketable securities held by federal trust funds related to Medicare payments. That’s what I said. As a result, “Treasury does not believe it is necessary to begin taking extraordinary measures starting January 2 to prevent a U.S. default,” he said.

The federal debt currently stands at about $36 trillion, a figure that has ballooned over both Republican and Democratic administrations. And soaring inflation after the coronavirus pandemic will raise borrowing costs for the government, meaning debt service payments next year will exceed national security spending.

Republicans, who will take full control of the White House, House and Senate in the new year, have big plans to extend President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and other policy priorities, but how they will pay for them remains unclear. We are discussing.