Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday said the nation will hit its debt ceiling the day after President Trump is inaugurated, and that the agency will begin “extraordinary measures” to stave off the threat of a national default.
Yellen told congressional leadership in a letter that the Treasury will begin the measures on Tuesday after a previous roughly 20-month suspension of the debt limit expired earlier this month.
The Treasury Department can use the measures to allow the government to meet its obligations for a period of time once the debt ceiling deadline has been hit. It’s unclear when the use of the measures will be fruitless, though there had previously been speculation that lawmakers would have a matter of months to actually raise the debt ceiling.
Yellen said she will be “unable to fully invest the portion of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund (CSRDF) not immediately required to pay beneficiaries.”
She also said a “debt issuance suspension period” will begin on next Tuesday and last through March 14.
“My predecessors have declared debt issuance suspension periods under similar circumstances,” she wrote. “With these determinations, the Treasury Department will suspend additional investments of amounts credited to, and redeem a portion of the investments held by, the CSRDF, as expressly authorized by law.”
She said the investments in the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund (PSRHBF) will be made in the same manner as those for the CSRDF, but noted that both accounts will be “made whole once the debt limit is increased or suspended.”
“Federal retirees and employees will be unaffected by these actions,” she added.
