Treasury Says There Is Only $88 Billion Left to Avoid a Debt Cap

The U.S. Treasury Department said on Friday that there is only $88 billion in extraordinary measures left for the government to pay its bills as of Wednesday, down from $110 billion a week earlier.

As of Wednesday, May 10, the U.S. is said to only have $88 billion left before it reaches the debt ceiling. Just one week earlier, there was said to be $110 billion left, meaning only about a quarter of the $333 billion of authorized measures are left for the government to use before hitting the debt limit.

As Bloomberg noted, “The measures are a collection of various accounting gimmicks that enable the administration to keep selling debt even though it has run up against the $31.4 trillion borrowing ceiling imposed by Congress.”

Earlier in the month, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen projected, in a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), that the U.S. could run out of cash to pay its bills as early as June 1, based on the data at the time.

“We will be unable to continue to satisfy all of the government’s obligations by early June, and potentially as early as June 1, if Congress does not raise or suspend the debt limit before that time,” she wrote.

“Waiting until the last minute to suspend or increase the debt limit can cause serious harm to business and consumer confidence, raise short-term borrowing costs for taxpayers, and negatively impact the credit rating of the United States,” she added.

However, as Breitbart News Economics Editor John Carney explained in the May 3 Breitbart Business Digest:

That is significantly earlier than most analysts were predicting. Of course, it makes sense for Yellen to take a conservative stance here. It’s far easier to push back the s0-called “x-date” than it would be to pull it forward. Having the Treasury Secretary suddenly and unexpectedly announce that the government had run out of money earlier than anticipated could spark a financial panic.

Realistically, the government probably has a few more weeks of funding than Yellen is letting on. Based on the most recent Treasury projections, analysts at Bank of America say the government will not run out of cash until July 28.

We take Yellen using the earlier date as a positive development because it signals that the administration would like to begin negotiations sooner. The Biden White House appears to be moving away from their earlier insistence on a “clean” debt ceiling bill that would be unacceptable to House Republicans.

This all comes as President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) have finally started to negotiate on the debt ceiling after the president refused to sit down with the California lawmaker for nearly 100 days.

The House Republicans passed legislation — the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023 — to raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion last month, while tackling America’s national deficit by saving the government an estimated $4.8 trillion over the next ten years.

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.