“Outgoing US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that on January 21, her department will begin special accounting maneuvers to avoid exceeding the US national debt limit.”, — write: epravda.com.ua
Outgoing US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that on January 21, her department will begin special accounting maneuvers to avoid exceeding the US national debt limit. This is reported by Bloomberg. On Friday, Yellen wrote in a letter to bipartisan congressional leaders that she was informing them of the “emergency measures” that the Treasury will begin to use on January 21, a day after the end of the Biden administration. “I respectfully urge Congress to act immediately to protect the full faith and credit of the United States,” said the head of the US Treasury Department. This letter is the second notice in the dispute over the national debt limit, which came into effect on January 2. Yellen announced that the Treasury’s emergency measures will begin with a buyout of a portion and a full investment freeze in the Public Employees’ Retirement and Disability Fund. Those funds will be returned after Congress decides on the national debt ceiling, Yellen said. “If the Treasury cannot issue new debt obligations, and then it runs out of money, the US government will be at risk of defaulting on some of its financial obligations,” Yellen said. Congress suspended the cap in 2023 after a bitter fight by lawmakers to prevent a default on federal debt. Currently, the limit is set at the level of about 36 trillion dollars. Some debt market strategists had expected the path to a deal to suspend or lift the limit would be easier given Republicans’ sole control of Congress and the White House after Donald Trump takes office again on Jan. 20. Before that happens, however, the Treasury will have to put measures in place to avoid exceeding the limit. Trump’s nominee to head the Treasury, Scott Bessent, promised at a Senate hearing on Thursday that there would be no default under his leadership.