The Congressional Budget Office said Thursday that the federal government will run out of money in late March or early April unless it is allowed to borrow more money from overseas.
The debt ceiling is currently expired, but it will be in effect again on Dec. 9. At that point, the debt ceiling will be whatever level of debt the government has racked up.
The total national debt is now approaching $20.6 trillion, and that will likely be the rough ceiling in place on Dec. 9.
CBO said in a note to Congress that the Treasury Department will be able to curb borrowing to some extent for a few months, but will need to borrow more soon after.
“The Congressional Budget Office projects that if the debt limit remains unchanged, the ability to borrow using extraordinary measures will be exhausted and the Treasury will most likely run out of cash by late March or early April 2018,” CBO said. “If that occurred, the government would be unable to pay its obligations fully, and it would delay making payments for its activities, default on its debt obligations, or both.”
Republicans originally sought to suspend the debt ceiling for more than a year, but President Trump agreed with Democrats that a short-term suspension is better, and Congress ended up approving that plan in the fall.
That decision will put Congress on the hook once again to find some way to increase or suspend the debt ceiling in the first three or four months of the new year.
