Debt Ceiling Deadline Pushed Back as Growth Lifts U.S.
The U.S. Treasury Department may have more time than economists previously estimated before the government’s debt limit is reached as changes in tax policy and an economic rebound boost federal revenue.
The date the nation hits the ceiling on borrowing could be pushed back as far as mid-September to Sept. 30 from a previous estimate of late August to mid-September, Steve Bell, senior director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, said in an interview.
A later deadline would give Congress more time to debate lifting the cap and postpone any vote until after the August recess. President Barack Obama in February signed legislation suspending the $16.4 trillion debt limit through May 18. The Treasury uses so-called extraordinary measures to push the deadline further.
Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew said last week Congress should “extend the debt limit to remove any uncertainty” and declined to estimate when the ceiling would be reached.
“A solid economy is certainly part of the story,” said Lou Crandall, chief economist at Wrightson Icap LLC in Jersey City, New Jersey. “Underlying fiscal trends are somewhat stronger than I had anticipated a few months ago.”
As a result, the Treasury is likely to have “a slower cash burn rate this summer than originally seemed likely,” he said.
Receipts in the six months through March totaled $1.2 trillion, up 12.4 percent from the October-March period a year earlier, according to Treasury data.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-25/debt-ceiling-deadline-pushed-back-as-growth-lifts-u-s-.html
