WASHINGTON_The Treasury Department on Wednesday said the government will be able to pay its bills without a debt limit increase through Feb. 28, while urging Congress to raise the borrowing limit as soon as possible.
"Based upon available information, Treasury expects to be able to fund the government through the end of February. Treasury urges Congress to act promptly on this important matter," Treasury Assistant Secretary for Capital Markets Clay Berry said in a statement.
The new estimates are roughly in line with those of some outside experts who have projected the government can continue to pay its bills until early March without a debt limit increase.
That timeline puts pressure on Congress to raise or suspend the debt limit in a must-pass bill fairly soon. GOP leaders have been mulling attaching a debt limit increase to a fiscal 2018 omnibus spending bill or a deal to raise the discretionary spending caps for two years. But it's unclear how close Democrats and Republicans are to agreeing on a budget deal, and lawmakers have a deadline of Feb. 8 to write and pass another fiscal 2018 temporary stopgap spending measure.
In a separate letter to Congress, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said he would extend a "debt issuance suspension period" that previously ended on Jan. 31 through the end of February. The suspension allows the Treasury to put off investments in the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund and other government trust funds to provide continued borrowing room to fund the government, often referred to as "extraordinary measures."
"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," he wrote.
Mnuchin previewed his department's intent to extend the use of extraordinary measures through February in an appearance Tuesday before the Senate Banking Committee.
Congress had suspended the debt limit through Dec. 8 as part of a stopgap funding bill that President Donald Trump signed in September. The debt limit reset on Dec. 11 to $20.46 trillion, increasing by the amount of debt incurred since the prior suspension took effect.
Since then, the Treasury has employed bookkeeping maneuvers, including delaying certain investments, to allow continued borrowing to pay government operating expenses and meet obligations to Treasury debt holders.
