U.S. will begin 'extraordinary measures' to stay under debt limit

[former9thward]

Source: Washington Post

The Treasury Department on Friday said that it will begin “extraordinary measures” next week to prevent the United States government from defaulting on its payment obligations, as lawmakers in Washington prepare for a potentially devastating fiscal showdown.

In a letter to congressional officials, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said the administration would on Jan. 19 begin repurposing federal funds to extend the date by which the government will run out of money. Congress must pass a law raising the debt limit from its current total of $31.4 trillion or the Treasury can’t borrow any more, even to pay for spending lawmakers have already authorized.

“The use of extraordinary measures enables the government to meet its obligations for only a limited amount of time,” Yellen said in a letter to congressional leaders. “It is therefore critical that Congress act in a timely manner to increase or suspend the debt limit. Failure to meet the government’s obligations would cause irreparable harm to the U.S. economy, the livelihoods of all Americans, and global financial stability.”

The U.S. has never defaulted on its debt in its history, and economists warn that doing so could trigger a panic on Wall Street and lead to millions of job losses. Many leading Republican lawmakers are demanding that their new House majority use the debt limit as leverage to force the Biden administration to accept sweeping spending cuts that Democrats oppose, creating an impasse with no clear resolution at hand.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2023/01/13/debt-limit-extraordinary-measures-treasury/?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&location=alert

[cilla4progress]

1. Woo hoo!

I have confidence in our admin!!

[Autumn]

2. What kind of 'extraordinary measures' ?

[moonshinegnomie]

3. an assortment of accounting trick

basically they shift money that has been commited to one thing but not spent and shift that to pay for actual money needed now. then once teh limit is raised the shift the money back
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/13/us-will-hit-its-debt-limit-thursday-start-taking-steps-to-avoid-default-yellen-warns-congress.html

[peppertree]

5. Nothing that might affect the MIC, that's for sure

I knew of a contractor who had a grimy little factory making plastic thinga-majigs for the Army - until Bush invaded Iraq.

He died a few years ago, and left his widow an oceanfront mansion worth $15 million. She sold it recently - top dollar.

Budget crisis or no budget crisis - can't have anything get in the way of that, you know.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

6. MIC is assisting the the Ukrainians against the invaders. nt

[peppertree]

8. And I'm all for that - but there's a lot of waste, fraud and abuse that won't be touched

The F-35, among others.

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2022/03/26/the-worst-defense-program-of-all-and-its-not-the-f-35/

[Happy Hoosier]

10. People shit on the F-35....l

... and it has had its share of issues. But I've seen it in action. The only thing that has a clear advantage against it is the F-22, and that's only in limited circumstances. The F-35 would make mincemeat of anything the Russians or Chinese can field today.

[Autumn]

12. Yep. they get more than they ask for. Every time.

[LiberalArkie]

17. How fast will congress fix it if they turn off the FAA and air traffic controllers?

[jalan48]

4. And here we go.....

[Bayard]

7. Sounds about right for the rethuglican thugs

Let's blow up the U.S. and world economy to force cuts to Social Security, and Medicare/Medicaid.

Because they hate the little people. I'm betting their rank and file thugs have no idea they are going to lose these benefits.

[LudwigPastorius]

27. I'm almost willing to believe that the MAGAts want to bring on Economic Armageddon...

just so they can use the MREs and canned corn they have buried in their backyards.

[dalton99a]

9. Kick

https://archive.ph/971h5

[sakabatou]

11. That'll be fucking hard as Repubs LOVE adding more debt

while screaming they'll cut the deficit.

[Delmette2.0]

13. Start by cutting salaries of Representatives.

Then lay off half of their staff.

Then cut their travel budget and printing and postage budget.

[Delphinus]

28. That

was my first thought - let them not be paid.

[AllyCat]

14. Let me guess: austerity for the 99%?

[FoxNewsSucks]

16. Of course. There sure won't be austerity for the 1%.

and the .001% are doing better than ever.

[calimary]

15. Talking point: This is how much they want to hurt you.

Republicans not only don’t care about you. They actively want to HURT you.

Starve you.

Screw you.

Rob you.

Drive you to homelessness and desperation.

Heartless in the absolute.

They’ll actively and relentlessly try to take money THAT YOU GENUINELY AND LEGITIMATELY NEED and give it to the already rich.

To comfort the already comfortable.

To reinforce their own safety zone with a lot of bullshit PR.

And leave the average American and those NOT financially viable out in the cold.

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. "as soon as this summer" now added to WP article

1st para now ends "a potentially devastating fiscal showdown as soon as this summer.".

I was going to say, I thought they got a bill through at the end of 2022 which stopped chaos for several months: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/23/biden-signs-17tn-spending-bill-to-avert-us-government-shutdown

"Extraordinary measures" can work for some time.

[eppur_se_muova]

19. Dems need to just raise the limit to a quadrillion or so next time they've got both houses.

No more of this annual pissing match.

[Marthe48]

20. r traitors will use anything against the U.S. to destroy it

They are not patriots, they are not loyal to the U.S.A. They are nasty thugs. If they aren't employed by putin, or people of the 1%, they are treasonous bastards intent on destroying the country, for no reason except they want to.

I hope that the criminals sitting in the U.S. House, the ones who asked for pardons, and know they were committing crimes, are arrested by whoever the hell can arrest them, and drag them out of the building.

The treasonous r's have used everything from destroying voting rights, to spreading contagious disease, to supply lines, to children, to families, to the economy, to undermine and weaken the country. Time is way past to stop them.

They shut down the govt. in 2012, and have played this traitor game every year since. How much longer does their rope have to get?

[Sky Jewels]

21. The administration knew this was coming. Why didn't they cut it off

at the knees before the Repukes took over the House?

[Genki Hikari]

23. Because they didn't have the votes

Manchin was against a debt ceiling rise, and that ended any possibility of getting the limit raised.

So rather than blaming Biden or the Democrats as a whole, try to focus on the ones who really are to blame--Manchin and the r thugs.

It gets really old having supposed liberals blaming Democrats for everything as much as r thugs and their lapdogs in the traitor media do.

[Sky Jewels]

25. I was under the impression there were ways to work around Congress on this issue.

In any case, the Democrats should have been screaming from the rooftops about this at every opportunity.

And, yes, I know that Republicans are entirely to blame for the shit show, but Democrats need to use the pulpit more effectively when they have it.

[Genki Hikari]

22. The only place that can afford any cuts is the military

Everyone else is stripped to the bone, already.

[pfitz59]

24. How about raising more revenue?

Oh yeah, these same folks want to gut the IRS. Why should billionaires pay for the system that made them rich?

[CaptainTruth]

26. Republicans want to destroy America. How much more evidence do we need?