Ｓａｓｕｋｅ™ Posted January 13, 2023 Posted January 13, 2023 The Treasury Department announced it will start taking “extraordinary measures” next week to prevent the U.S. from defaulting on its debt obligations and potentially plunging the country into an economic crisis. In a letter addressed Friday to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen implored Congress to raise the debt ceiling and said the government will reach its borrowing limit on Thursday – the current limit is around $31.4 trillion. To avoid a default, the department will be reallocating federal funding to continue paying the government’s debts. The department is unable to provide a precise estimate on how long the U.S. can keep paying its debts before Congress needs to raise its borrowing limit, but Yellen wrote that it is unlikely the measures “will be exhausted before early June.” “It is therefore critical that Congress act in a timely manner to increase or suspend the debt limit,” Yellen wrote. “Failure to meet the government’s obligations would cause irreparable harm to the U.S. economy, the livelihoods of all Americans, and global financial stability.” The move is to cover expenses the government already has incurred, not to pay for new spending yet to be approved. Ultra conservatives on Capitol Hill have tried to use previous debt ceiling votes as leverage to exact spending concessions but have done so with little success. This time could be different given how much influence far-right Freedom Caucus members in the House now wield. link:https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/13/treasury-department-us-debt-ceiling-republicans/11047076002/
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