Treasury Secretary says not raising the ceiling would be “catastrophic.”
As members of Congress return from its Labor Day recess, they must address raising or suspending the debt ceiling before the government runs out of cash to pay its bills. When asked about a legislative strategy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “We’re considering all the options.”
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated at the end of July that the government would probably run out of money to pay its bills sometime in the fall, likely October or November. The new debt ceiling, which would include the new spending approved by Congress over the course of the past two years, will likely be around $28 trillion, the CBO said.
“We’d like to do it in a bipartisan way,” Speaker Pelosi said. “We don’t ever want to put the full faith and credit of the U.S. in doubt.” However, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell recently cast doubt on the willingness of his party “to raise the debt ceiling after what we’ve been experiencing.”
“Failing to increase the debt limit would have absolutely catastrophic economic consequences,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told legislators in June.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For members of the House and Senate as they consider what action they are going to take on America’s debt ceiling.
- For Congress as they debate the multi-trillion-dollar packages on infrastructure and other government spending.
- For Secretary Yellen as she heads the Treasury Department and evaluates the federal financial landscape.
Sources: Bloomberg News, Fox News
