US Treasury likely to run out of cash before end of December: CBO

Washington, Dec 1 (IANS) The US Treasury Department would most likely run out of cash before the end of December if Congress fails to raise the debt limit, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has said.

The US Treasury has already reached the new debt limit of $28.9 trillion, so it currently has no room to borrow under its standard operating procedures, the Federal agency said on Tuesday in a report, adding the department is using the "extraordinary measures" that allow it to continue to borrow additional amounts for a limited time.

If the debt limit remained unchanged and if the US Treasury transferred $118 billion to the Highway Trust Fund on December 15, as currently planned, the Treasury would most likely run out of cash before the end of December, the CBO estimated.

"If that occurred, the government would be unable to pay its obligations fully, and it would delay making payments for some activities, default on its debt obligations, or both," the Federal agency said.

The CBO's projection came as US Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen has urged Congress to raise the debt limit by December 15, Xinhua news agency reported.

"I cannot overstate how critical it is that Congress address this issue. America must pay its bills on time and in full. If we do not, we will eviscerate our current recovery," Yellen said on Tuesday before the Senate Banking Committee.

"I didn't say that there is no way that we can make it past December 15... there is uncertainty about where we will be on December 15, and there are scenarios in which we can see it would not be possible to finance the government," Yellen added.

"We think it's important for Congress to recognise that we may not be able to and therefore to raise the debt ceiling expeditiously," she said.

The debt limit, commonly called the debt ceiling, is the total amount of money that the US government is authorised to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations, including social security and medicare benefits, interest on the national debt, and other payments.