US could default on its debt by July if deal on raising the debt ceiling is not reached

(Natural News) The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has warned that the United States could default on its national debt if Congress and the White House are unable to agree on raising the debt ceiling.

The current debt ceiling is $31.4 trillion. The U.S. is expected to reach this limit sometime between July and September, according to the CBO’s projections. For now, the Department of the Treasury is working overtime deploying a series of special accounting maneuvers, referred to as “extraordinary measures” by the CBO, to make sure the government can keep paying its obligations, such as to bondholders and to Social Security recipients.

“If the debt limit is not raised or suspended before the extraordinary measures are exhausted, the government would be unable to pay its obligations fully,” the CBO’s report stated. “As a result, the government would have to delay making payments for some activities, default on its debt obligations, or both.”

The CBO noted that the final date for when the U.S. will reach the debt ceiling will be determined by tax revenues received by the Internal Revenue Service in April. Should these revenues decline significantly from the CBO’s own estimates, the extraordinary measures “could be exhausted sooner, and Treasury could run out of funds before July,” noted CBO Director Phillip Swagel. (Related: To increase or not to increase: Republicans and Democrats clash over $31.4 trillion debt ceiling.)

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