Janet Yellen says the recent debt ceiling hike will only cover the government's bills through December 3
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- Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Congress has until December 3 before the US defaults on its debt.
- Until then, Yellen said the government will be using "extraordinary measures" to stay funded.
- The House recently passed a two-month debt ceiling hike that every GOP member voted against.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress on Monday the recent debt ceiling hike will only keep the government funded through December 3.
Yellen wrote a letter to congressional leadership saying that Congress' recent two-month debt ceiling hike presented a "temporary reprieve," but since it is only a short-term solution, the Treasury is employing "extraordinary measures" to allow the government to pay its bills during this time. Last week, the House approved the debt-limit extension - which every Republican member voted against - buying Congress more time to devise a longer-term solution before the US defaults on its debt.
The Treasury Secretary wrote that "it is imperative that Congress act to increase or suspend the debt limit in a way that provides longer-term certainty that the government will satisfy all its obligations."
Democrats managed to pass a debt-limit extension six days before October 18, when Yellen previously warned Congress the US would default on its debt without any action. As Insider has previously reported, raising the debt limit has been a highly partisan process, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell remaining adamant that raising the limit is something the majority party must do on their own.
After the House temporarily raised the limit, McConnell made clear to President Joe Biden that Republicans will not be stepping in come December.
"I will not be a party to any future effort to mitigate the consequences of Democratic mismanagement," McConnell wrote in a scathing letter to Biden last week. "Your lieutenants on Capitol Hill now have the time they claimed they lacked to address the debt ceiling."
The US has never defaulted on its debt, and a growing number of lawmakers are calling for congressional action to completely eliminate the debt ceiling. In the mean time, some have floated the idea of minting a $1 trillion platinum coin to pay the government's bills.