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US government could default 'as soon as mid-December' without action: Analysts
US government could default ‘as soon as mid-December’ without action: Analysts
Ben Werschkul · Senior Producer and Writer
Thu, November 18, 2021, 8:16 AM
On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen set Dec. 15 as the latest deadline for when the U.S. could default on government debt.
Today, an independent group of analysts at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) have confirmed the deadline, projecting a debt limit “X Date” of when the U.S. will no longer be able to pay its bills as a possibility beginning in mid-December without any action from Congress.
The relative clarity on this mid-December deadline comes as Yellen confirmed that a $118 billion transfer to the Highway Trust Fund – part of the just-signed Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal – will, indeed, be completed by Dec. 15.
The news underscores a pile-up of end-of-the-year priorities facing Congress. In addition to the debt limit issue, lawmakers hope to pass the ambitious Build Back Better Act, Congress’s annual defense policy bill, as well as a bill focused on China called the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act. And there's also the issue of averting a government shutdown by Dec. 3.
{snip}
Ben Werschkul · Senior Producer and Writer
Thu, November 18, 2021, 8:16 AM
On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen set Dec. 15 as the latest deadline for when the U.S. could default on government debt.
Today, an independent group of analysts at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) have confirmed the deadline, projecting a debt limit “X Date” of when the U.S. will no longer be able to pay its bills as a possibility beginning in mid-December without any action from Congress.
The relative clarity on this mid-December deadline comes as Yellen confirmed that a $118 billion transfer to the Highway Trust Fund – part of the just-signed Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal – will, indeed, be completed by Dec. 15.
The news underscores a pile-up of end-of-the-year priorities facing Congress. In addition to the debt limit issue, lawmakers hope to pass the ambitious Build Back Better Act, Congress’s annual defense policy bill, as well as a bill focused on China called the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act. And there's also the issue of averting a government shutdown by Dec. 3.
{snip}