US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that the government would reach its statutory borrowing limit on Tuesday and would begin employing "extraordinary measures" to keep from breaching the cap and triggering a potentially catastrophic default.
Yellen, in a letter on Friday to congressional leaders just three days before the Biden administration turns over US government control to President-elect Donald Trump and his team, said the Treasury would begin using extraordinary measures on Jan. 21.
"The period of time that extraordinary measures may last is subject to considerable uncertainty, including the challenges of forecasting the payments and receipts of the US Government months into the future," Yellen said in the letter.