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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen doubled down Monday on her default projection, telling House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) the government could reach its debt limit as early as June 1.
Yellen maintained that while the exact so-called X-date remains unknown, she believes it “highly likely” that the nation will run out of cash to pay its debt obligations by the beginning of June and June 1 at the earliest.
“These estimates are based on currently available data, and federal receipts, outlays, and debt could vary from these estimates,” Yellen wrote. “I will continue to update Congress as more information becomes available.”
The letter comes after Yellen wrote to McCarthy on May 15 with a similar estimate, and as McCarthy and President Joe Biden continue to engage in tense negotiations on raising the debt limit while also passing House Republicans’ desired spending reductions.
Yellen released her latest letter amid McCarthy and Biden meeting for more eleventh-hour talks on Monday after Biden refused for months to entertain the debt ceiling plan that Republicans ultimately passed out of the House in April via the Limit, Save, Grow Act.
Signaling he and the president may have found common ground after the meeting, McCarthy said, “I thought it was more productive than the other meetings we’ve had, but we still have differences.
