Congress is getting closer and closer to reaching two different goals. One issue is hitting the debt ceiling and the other a government shutdown. These deadlines are coming at the end of this week December 3rd.
In order to solve these different issues Congress needs to pass a spending bill to keep the government funded for the fiscal year and avoid a government shutdown and either suspend or raise the debt ceiling.
There is a little bit of good news from the Treasury Secretary who gave Congress a little bit more time to come up with a deal for one of those crises That one crisis is the debt ceiling that’s because in a letter to Congressional leaders.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she now thinks with a high degree of confidence that her department will be able to finance the government through December 15th. The original date she gave for the federal government to default on its debt was December 3rd.
That is the same date as a scheduled government shutdown Secretary Yellen says they were able to get the financing for this from the bipartisan infrastructure bill that was just signed into law earlier this month.
The Treasury Department is going to get creative with the money allocated in the bill for the highway trust fund. Secretary Yellen also warned there are scenarios that would leave the government without enough cash beyond that date and she encouraged lawmakers to pass a bill to either raise or suspend the debt ceiling so we can avoid consequences.
Congress needs to get a spending bill passed by the end of the week to avoid a government shutdown and figure out the debt ceiling issue before the end of year.
