The United States reached its debt ceiling on Thursday. Set at $31.38 trillion, the Treasury Department warned that the nation has already exceeded that limit. It was Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen who, in a letter sent to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, informed him that her department would be obliged to implement "extraordinary measures" to avoid bond defaults.
Carta de Janet Yellen a Kevin McCarthy by VozMedia on Scribd
In this way, Just the News recalls how, the department will not be able to meet some investments such as the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund and Medicare benefits. At least until the end of the "debt issuance suspension period" that Yellen set between January 19 and June 5:
The period of time that extraordinary measures may last is subject to considerable uncertainty. I respectfully urge Congress to act promptly to protect the full faith and credit of the United States.
This is not the first time the Treasury Secretary has asked Congress to take action. A few days before the nation reached the debt ceiling on January 13, Janet Yellen warned both the House and Senate that it was "critical that Congress act in a timely manner."
Failure to meet the government's obligations would cause irreparable damage to the U.S. economy, the livelihoods of all Americans and global financial stability.
GOP against raising the debt ceiling
Congress last raised the debt ceiling in December 2021, when both Congress and the Senate were under Democratic control. And the measure could be repeated if an agreement is reached. However, several Republican congressmen spoke out against a further increase in the debt ceiling. Matt Rosendale was one of them. The Montana congressman assured through a tweet that "raising the debt limit will only hurt future generations and weaken national security."
Raising the debt limit will only hurt future generations and weaken our national security.
We must put a stop to the reckless spending in Washington. https://t.co/dXl4WxypAI
— Matt Rosendale (@RepRosendale) January 18, 2023
He was not the only critic of the measure. Utah Congressman Chris Stewart explained that the debt, in just two years, had "risen by about $4 trillion," while asserting that he also did not believe it was a coincidence that " inflation also recently climbed to a 40-year high."
The debt has risen by about $4 trillion in just two years.
It's no coincidence that inflation also recently climbed to a 40-year high – costing the average American family nearly $4,000 in real take-home pay.
The time to rein in spending and debt is now. pic.twitter.com/pXR096AQos
— Rep. Chris Stewart (@RepChrisStewart) January 18, 2023
For her part, the representative of New York's 11th district, Nicole Malliotakis, assured that the blame for reaching the debt ceiling was on the Democrats and not, as Biden's party wanted people to believe, on the Republicans:
If Democrats don’t want to negotiate with @HouseGOP they shouldn’t have waited until now to address #debt limit. They had no problem passing another massive spending omnibus without us in December. Now they want to blame Republicans for the debt limit problem they created?
— Office of Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (@RepMalliotakis) January 19, 2023
The congresswoman responded to Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary that, on Wednesday, January 18 again made clear the Democrats' intention not to negotiate with Republicans: "We’ve been very clear there should not be any negotiations around here. We should not be stepping around dealing with the debt ceiling. We’ve been incredibly clear here."
