US Treasury warns $36 trillion debt ceiling is close: prepares special measures

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said her office will begin taking special measures on January 21 to avoid breaching the U.S. debt ceiling, urging lawmakers to take steps to increase or stop the statutory ceiling, UNN reports citing Bloomberg.

Details

Yellen wrote in a letter to congressional leaders on Friday that she was advising them on "the extraordinary measures that the Treasury Department will begin to use.

This is now the second announcement in the latest fight over the debt ceiling. The minister said that the US Treasury's emergency measures will begin with the repayment of part and suspension of all investments in the Public Employees' Retirement and Disability Fund. She will also suspend additional investments of amounts credited to the Postal Service Retiree Health Insurance Fund.

"The period of time for which the emergency measures may be in effect is subject to significant uncertainty, including the challenges of forecasting payments and receipts from the U.S. government months in advance," she wrote.

"And while Republicans will control all branches of the federal government on Monday, a deal to avert disaster is not necessarily guaranteed. And that ceiling? It's $36 trillion," the newspaper writes.

Recall 

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has recommended to increase military spending by more than $50 billion in fiscal year 2026. The plan envisages an increase in the Pentagon's budget to more than $1 trillion by 2028.