US debt limit measures might run out in August

(FILES) A graphic shows the rising current US national debt as Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen testifies before the House Financial Services Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, November 4, 2015. There is a "reasonable probability" the US will hit its borrowing limit in August when Congress is in recess, US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent said on May 9, 2025, calling on lawmakers to act. "I respectfully urge Congress to increase or suspend the debt limit by mid-July, before its scheduled break, to protect the full faith and credit of the United States," he wrote in a letter to US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)

Washington: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has told US lawmakers that his department’s ability to use special accounting maneuovers to stay within the federal debt limit could be exhausted in August.

Bessent, in a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, said that “after reviewing receipts from the recent April tax filing season, there is a reasonable probability that the federal government’s cash and extraordinary measures will be exhausted in August while Congress is scheduled to be in recess.”