US govt to run out of borrowed money on Nov 5: Treasury

Appeals to Congress to raise borrowing limit

The US Treasury Department has said the government will run out of money to pay for its operations sooner than estimated, on November 5, and appealed to Congress to raise the borrowing limit.

The Treasury would then be left to fund the government with less than $30 bn. This amount would be far short of net expenditures on certain days which can be as high as $60 bn, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said in a letter to the Congress.

"Moreover, given certain payments are due in early to mid November, we anticipate that our remaining cash would be depleted quickly. Without sufficient cash, it would be impossible for the US to meet all of its obligations for the first time in history," Lew warned.

Lew's revised estimate has pushed the new debt-ceiling deadline several weeks ahead of what was estimated by the Congressional Budget Office, which had been late November or early December.

He said this is the Congress’ responsibility and urged lawmakers to raise the debt limit. Noting the Treasury's cash balance is already below $150 bn, Lew said maintaining this minimum balance helps protect against potential market interruptions.

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said"The Republican Congress must take the prospect of a catastrophic default off of the table. The credit rating of the US is not a hostage to serve Republicans’ toxic special interest ideology.

"But it does not increase the debt limit or alter the time we can continue to pay the nation's bills. Treasury's cash balance rose temporarily after the September 15 tax deadline.

Today, we anticipate that it will again fall below the minimum balance, and we expect it will continue to fall until Congress raises the debt limit," he said failure to protect the full faith and credit of the US would have a devastating impact on hard-working families across the country.

"Yet time and again, the crisis-addicted Republican majority has threatened to shatter the foundation of our economy to advance their destructive partisan agenda," she said.