US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Congress about the need to take "emergency measures" by January 14 to avoid a country's default. She said that the new state debt limit can be reached between January 14 and 23.
Yellen emphasized the importance of lawmakers' actions to preserve US creditworthiness, stressing that congressional inaction could lead to problems with debt payments, which would have serious economic consequences.
The Ministry of Finance predicts that on January 2, the national debt of the United States will decrease by 54 billion dollars due to the purchase of securities related to Medicare payments. However, this will not solve the general problem of growing debt.
As part of the 2023 budget deal, Congress suspended the national debt ceiling until January 1, 2025. However, according to Yellen, the issue must be resolved within the next year.
Since the first cap was set in 1939 at $45 billion, Congress has raised the cap 103 times due to persistently higher spending than tax revenue.
As of October 2024, the U.S. national debt was 98% of GDP, up from 32% in the early 2000s.
