US Treasury Secretary Bentsen: Unconventional measures to avoid reaching the debt ceiling may be exhausted by August.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Benett wrote to members of Congress, stating that the Treasury Department's ability to use special accounting measures to avoid breaching the federal debt limit could be exhausted as early as August this year. In his letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, Benett said, "Based on an examination of April tax season receipts, it can be reasonably estimated that the federal government's cash reserves and extraordinary measures could be exhausted in August, which coincides with the August recess." Benett urged Congress to "raise or suspend the debt limit" by mid-July, before the summer recess, in order to maintain the creditworthiness and debt-paying ability of the United States. The US hit the current statutory debt limit of $36.1 trillion in early January this year. Since then, the Treasury Department has been using so-called "extraordinary measures" to delay the risk of a federal default. Analysts predict that the Treasury Department may run out of cash between August and October, making it difficult to fulfill federal financial obligations on time. Phillip Swagel, the Director of the Congressional Budget Office, stated earlier this month that the agency still expects the debt limit to be reached around August or September.