Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature currently requires accessing the site using the built-in Safari browser.
Painting a frightening picture, the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington think tank, projects that the cash crunch would start between Nov. 10 and Nov. 19. It has based its estimate on the Treasury Department's daily cash flow estimates and the bills that are due. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has in an updated estimate said that the US Treasury will run out of cash in the first half of November if the federal borrowing limit isn't raised. The independent CBO's report bolsters the deadline set by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, who told lawmakers at the beginning of October that he would run out of accounting tricks to stay under the borrowing cap on Nov. 5, leaving the government just its cash on hand to pay bills, which Lew warned would go quickly.
When Lew set that deadline, several Republicans expressed skepticism about the timing. Previous estimates from in and outside the government had projected the government would likely need a boost to the $18.1 trillion borrowing cap sometime later in November, or perhaps even December, writes The Hill. Given the turmoil among House Republicans, some wondered if the earlier deadline was meant to nudge outgoing Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to deal with the debt limit before he steps down at the end of the month. The CBO said it was releasing the report "in response to congressional interest." But the Treasury said its tax receipts had come in lower than expected and some investments in military trust funds were higher than anticipated. As a result, the government was facing a cash crunch sooner than anticipated, giving Congress just a few weeks to hammer out a debt-limit deal, says The Hill. After Nov. 5, Lew warned, the government would be at risk for missing a payment in the near future, given that only existing cash reserves would be available.
And the CBO's findings also agree with outside analysis. The Bipartisan Policy Center, which tracks the debt-limit deadline closely, has projected that the government will miss some sort of government payment between Nov. 10 and 19 without additional borrowing room. The CBO said that failing to raise the debt limit would lead to delays in payments of government activities, a default on the government's debt obligations, or both. The debt limit has led to bitter partisan fights in recent years. Republicans have used the measure as a way to gain leverage and push for government spending cuts, but the White House says it won't negotiate on debt-limit increases. Many lawmakers expect House Speaker John Boehner to find a way to approve a debt-limit fix before he retires from Congress. That departure could happen as soon as Oct. 30, but the Republicans will have to select a new speaker first. The White House is also in talks with Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) over an agreement on spending levels for 2016 and possibly 2017.
US Congress has few weeks to raise debt ceiling to avoid defaulting
The statutory cap on the government's so-called debt limit needs to be raised by early November, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday, confirming a recent warning from the administration. Boehner himself has said that he doesn't want to leave a "dirty barn" for his successor, comments that have been widely interpreted as a promise that he would try to at least clear away the debt limit issue rather than saddle the next speaker with the task. "The Speaker has made it clear that he wants to solve some outstanding issues before he leaves. No decisions have been made, but a resolution on the debt ceiling is certainly possible," said a Boehner spokesperson. Threats against Boehner from hard-right lawmakers angry over his moves to avert a government shutdown — rather than wage a longshot battle with Democrats over taking away federal funding for Planned Parenthood — led him to announce last month that he will resign at the end of October.
That deadline is now in question after Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., dropped out of the race to replace Boehner, leaving no obvious successor other than a reluctant Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who is keeping his cards close to his vest. If the government runs out of cash, it can't pay obligations like interest payments, Medicare payments, and Social Security checks. The government has never defaulted on its obligations and a severe market reaction would be all but certain if it did. Last year, Boehner gave in to demands from President Barack Obama for a borrowing increase free of GOP add-ons. Obama is insisting he won't give concessions to get a debt bill from Congress this year. Boehner hasn't explicitly said what his plans are but he has been out of the ultimatum game after winning $2.1 trillion in spending cuts in exchange for a 2011 debt limit increase.
Last year, Boehner was one of just 28 House Republicans to vote for a "clean" debt limit increase. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was among a handful of Senate Republicans to join with then-majority Democrats to send the measure to Obama. Now, McConnell would have to produce additional GOP votes to move the measure over the Senate's 60-vote filibuster barrier. The Congressional Budget Office weighed in Wednesday with a report saying the government would run dangerously low on cash in early November and run through all of its cash reserves sometime during the first half of the month. CBO had earlier predicted lawmakers would have more time; its revisions followed a letter from to top lawmakers from Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew effectively setting a Nov. 5 deadline for congressional action.
Boehner likely to move on debt limit hike before departure
Ryan, who has made clear he does not want to be speaker, is home in Janesville, Wisconsin, thinking it over anyway under pressure from top party leaders. And with Congress out of session for a weeklong recess, Capitol Hill has fallen quiet after a series of wild days during which Speaker John Boehner shocked the House by announcing his planned resignation, and Boehner's heir apparent, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, abruptly took himself out of the running. The stunning developments left a leadership vacuum at the pinnacle of Congress. Now into it are stepping a growing number of Republican lawmakers from around the country, some relative newcomers, others with experience to point to, united by a chance to lunge at the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become speaker of the U.S. House, second-in-line to the presidency.
Why any of them would want a job that defeated the current occupant and scared off his No. 2 is another question. The daunting rift between establishment-minded lawmakers and the hard-line conservatives who pushed Boehner to the exits shows no sign of dissipating, and threatens to complicate life for whoever next occupies the speaker's chair. Congress also faces a series of formidable tasks over the next several months, including increasing the federal borrowing limit to avoid a default and paying the government's bills to stave off a shutdown.
Nevertheless, the wannabe speakers are multiplying. "I am humbled to have my name mentioned as a potential candidate, and I am considering the pursuit of the speakership in response to those requests," Rep. Bill Flores, R-Texas, wrote in a letter to fellow House members Wednesday. "If we all spend enough time on our knees praying for each other, we can heal our divisions and truly work together to restore America to the 'Shining City on a Hill' that President Reagan challenged us to become."
MORE
