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The U.S. will hit the debt ceiling next week, forcing the Treasury Department to free up cash to pay the bills. We’ll also look at Tesla’s surprising price drops, the FAA’s lack of funding, and more.
But first, see what a prominent fact-checker thinks of House Republicans’ IRS claims.
Welcome to On The Money, your guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line. For The Hill, we’re Sylvan Lane, Aris Folley and Karl Evers-Hillstrom. Subscribe here.Yellen: US is projected to hit debt ceiling on Jan. 19
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the U.S. is projected to reach its roughly $31.4 trillion borrowing limit in less than a week.
Yellen shared the estimate in a letter to Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Friday. She also warned the department would soon have to begin taking “extraordinary measures” to stave off a default to buy time for Congress to find a bipartisan solution.
Those measures include temporarily suspending new investments of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund and the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund, as well as suspending reinvestment of the Government Securities Investment Fund of the Federal Employees Retirement System Thrift Savings Plan.
While the secretary said it’s unlikely cash and extraordinary measures will run out before early June, she stressed the measures will only last for “a limited amount of time” and pressed for Congress to “act in a timely manner” to raise or suspend the ceiling.
The letter to McCarthy comes as a high-stakes fight over raising the debt ceiling looms over the further divided Congress after Republicans took back control of the lower chamber last week.
McCarthy has pressed for any action to address the debt ceiling to be tied to spending cuts sought by Republicans. However, proposals for significant cuts are likely to find trouble in the Senate, where Democrats still hold control.
Aris shares more here.
SEE ALSO: White House calls for debt ceiling hike ‘without conditions’
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