BackYellen estimates debt-limit measures will run out by June 5
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said her department estimates it will run out of funding by June 5 if lawmakers fail to raise or suspend the US debt ceiling.
PremiumTreasury Secretary Janet Yellen said her department estimates it will run out of funding by June 5 if lawmakers fail to raise or suspend the US debt ceiling.
“Based on the most recent available data, we now estimate that Treasury will have insufficient resources to satisfy the government’s obligations if Congress has not raised or suspended the debt limit by June 5," Yellen said Friday in her latest letter to lawmakers on the potential timing of a government default.
Earlier this week, Yellen told congressional leaders it was “highly likely" her department would run out of sufficient cash to pay all its bills in early June, and that such a moment could come as soon as June 1.
The latest letter comes as negotiators from the White House and Republican lawmakers are moving closer to a budget deal. Republicans have vowed not to raise the country’s statutory borrowing limit unless Biden agrees to budget cuts.
The Treasury effectively hit the debt limit in January and has since been using emergency accounting measures to stave off a default, which could prove catastrophic for financial markets and the economy.
The Treasury’s cash balance fell to $38.8 billion as of Thursday, according to data published Friday, the lowest since 2017. The Treasury had just $67 billion of extraordinary measures left to help keep the government’s bills paid as of May 24, the department said in a statement Friday.
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This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
