The federal government will run out of borrowing space in late March or early April next year, the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday.
Under a deal struck by President Trump and congressional Democrats in September, the government is on a debt holiday, piling up as much red ink as it needs to pay off bills through Dec. 8.
At that point the borrowing limit will be reimposed and the Treasury Department will have to resort to extraordinary measures, such as dipping into federal accounts, to avoid going over the limit.
A debt increase, or another debt holiday, must be approved before the extraordinary measures are exhausted, or else the government could have to default on some obligations.
“CBO projects that if the debt limit remains unchanged, the ability to borrow using extraordinary measures will be exhausted and the Treasury will most likely run out of cash by late March or early April 2018,” the agency said.
The total federal debt stood at $20.6 trillion on Tuesday, the most recent figure available. That’s up from $19.9 trillion when President Trump took office in January.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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