Yellen: ‘Extraordinary Measures’ Wanted to Keep away from Defaulting on Debt

• Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote a letter to Home Speaker Mike Johnson Friday.
• In it, she warned that the US would breach its debt restrict as quickly as January 14 until Congress acted.
• The Treasury Division will start taking “extraordinary measures” to keep away from defaulting on debt.

The US might want to take “extraordinary measures” to keep away from defaulting on its debt as early as January 14, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned in a letter on Friday.

Within the letter addressed to Home Speaker Mike Johnson, Yellen wrote that though the excellent debt topic to the restrict is predicted to drop by roughly $54 billion when the brand new debt restrict is established on January 2, it will not be lengthy earlier than the US does hit its restrict.

She mentioned the Treasury Division will doubtless want to start out making accounting manuevers between January 14 and 23 to stop the US from defaulting.

The debt restrict is the mechanism that restricts the sum of money the US can borrow. A lot of that cash goes towards applications like Social Safety, Medicare, navy salaries, curiosity on the nationwide debt, and tax refunds, Yellen mentioned within the letter.

The federal government may face hassle paying these payments if lawmakers fail to boost the debt restrict.

Yellen’s warning comes days after President-elect Donald Trump pushed Congress to boost or get rid of the debt ceiling solely. Lawmakers, nevertheless, did not go a two-year suspension extension whereas voting on a authorities spending invoice earlier this month.

The Fiscal Accountability Act of 2023 suspended the debt restrict by way of January 1, 2025, following a contentious political combat. Republicans are set to take management of the federal government in January and must deal with the continuing debt ceiling drawback, which may have an effect on monetary markets and borrowing prices.

“I respectfully urge Congress to behave to guard the complete religion and credit score of the US,” Yellen wrote.