WASHINGTON: The US government has enough cash to pay its bills through February 28 without hitting the debt limit, nearly a month later than previously estimated, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
In a letter to congressional leaders dated Tuesday, Mnuchin said Treasury will try to further extend the deadline with accounting maneuvers, like suspending investments in employee pension funds.
He previously estimated the government's borrowing authority would run out Wednesday.
"I respectfully urge Congress to protect the full faith and credit of the United States by acting to increase the statutory debt limit as soon as possible," Mnuchin said.
Congress had suspended the debt limit through December 8, but will need to either suspend or raise the ceiling from the current level of more than $20 trillion before Treasury runs out of funds to keep the government operating.
Treasury in November began implementing the bookkeeping moves as part of the effort to avoid defaulting on the US debt, which could disrupt financial markets.
Because the federal government traditionally runs a budget deficit, it has no choice but to borrow to finance government operations, including salaries, retirement benefits, social spending and other expenses approved by Congress.
Under the administration of former president Barack Obama, Republicans repeatedly pushed the government to the verge of default, using the debt limit to force spending cuts.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.