© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The Treasury Department is pictured in Washington, U.S., April 25, 2021. REUTERS/Al Drago/File Photo
By David Lawder
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury said it can now meet the federal government’s payment obligations after a debt ceiling suspension, following earlier warnings that it would run short of funds on Monday if Congress failed to act.
“Now that Congress has acted to suspend the debt limit, Treasury has the tools needed to ensure that the U.S. continues to meet all of our obligations,” Treasury spokesperson Christopher Hayden said in an emailed statement on Monday.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had warned Congress that without a debt ceiling increase, Treasury would be unable to make an estimated $92 billion in payments and transfers this week, including a $36 billion adjustment to the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.
The Treasury on Friday auctioned $15 billion worth of one-day cash management bills that settled on Monday and mature on Tuesday.
After President Joe Biden signed the debt ceiling legislation on Saturday, the Treasury auctioned $61 billion in six-month bills and $68 billion in three-month bills that settle on Thursday.
The debt ceiling suspension allows the Treasury to maintain its planned auction schedule for total borrowings of $726 billion in the April-June quarter. The plan assumes an end-June cash balance of $550 billion. The Treasury has said it expects to borrow $733 billion in the July-September quarter, for an end-September cash balance of $600 billion.
The Treasury’s cash balance as of Thursday fell to just $22.9 billion — below the $54 billion on hand on Aug. 2, 2011, when Congress also had narrowly avoided a debt ceiling default.
