“I respectfully ask Congress to raise the debt limit as soon as possible,” Lew said in the letter. “Beginning on Monday, March 16, the outstanding debt of the United States will be at the statutory limit.”
Congress passed the Temporary Debt Limit Extension Act, suspending the statutory debt limit through March 15.
“Increasing the debt limit does not authorize new spending commitments. It simply allows the government to pay for expenditures Congress has already approved, thereby protecting the full faith and credit of the United States,” Lew said.
Since 1960, Congress has acted 78 times to permanently raise, temporarily extend, or revise the definition of the debt limit, according to the Treasury Department.
The US public debt is more than $18 trillion.
