The US Treasury is likely to exhaust its "extraordinary measures" if Congress does not raise or suspend the federal government's debt ceiling by 18 October, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a letter to US lawmakers on Tuesday.
"...We now estimate that Treasury is likely to exhaust its extraordinary measures if Congress has not acted to raise or suspend the debt limit by October 18. At that point, we expect Treasury would be left with very limited resources that would be depleted quickly. It is uncertain whether we could continue to meet all the nation’s commitments after that date..."
Yellen concluded her letter by saying: "I respectfully urge Congress to protect the full faith and credit of the United States by acting as soon as possible."
This comes after Republicans in the Senate earlier this week blocked legislation that would raise the debt ceiling to avoid an impending government shutdown and fund the work of the government.
Last week, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed to overcome political opposition and pass a temporary funding bill to raise the country’s debt limit. Negotiations on the debt ceiling between Democrats and Republicans have been dragging on for months but no breakthrough has so far been achieved. The rival lawmakers have squared off over the debt ceiling several times over the past decade and briefly allowed the United States to exceed it during the Trump administration.