Yellen: US debt ceiling will be reached on January 19, Congress must act

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The US federal debt ceiling will be reached on January 19; From then on, the Treasury must start taking extraordinary measures to avoid default and continue to fund the central government’s operations. For this, Congress must decide whether to raise or suspend the debt ceiling.

wrote the Secretary of the Treasury. Janet Yellen, in a letter to Congress. In the letter, recalling that the ceiling was set at roughly $31.381 billion, Yellen stressed that the use of extraordinary measures to avoid default was possible “only for a limited period” and that at least those resources would be sufficient. In early June.

Risk of “irreparable damage”.

Therefore, it is “critical” that Congress take timely action to raise or suspend the debt ceiling, otherwise the government’s failure to meet its obligations will cause “irreparable damage” to the U.S. economy, the lives of all Americans, and global financial stability. , Yellen wrote.

Republicans are demanding spending cuts in return

The new Republican party that took office last week Room However, he has already made it clear that any move to address the debt ceiling issue must be coupled with significant cuts in public spending.

It’s a difficult position to share ever since Senate“If we’re going to raise the debt ceiling, at a certain point you have to sit down and ask yourself why did we hit the limit, are we going over the limit on credit cards?” Cobb Majority Leader Steve Scalise said.