Analysis: US may default before Christmas if debt ceiling isn’t raised – By Sylvan Lane (The Hill) / Nov 18 2021
The federal government has a 50/50 chance of defaulting on the national debt if lawmakers don’t raise or suspend the borrowing limit before they leave the Capitol for Christmas, according to projections released Wednesday.
The Bipartisan Policy Center, a non-partisan think tank, said the Treasury Department will likely exhaust its ability to keep the U.S. solvent sometime between the middle of December and the beginning of February. While the range begins slightly later than the group projected in October, BPC director of economic policy Shai Akabas warned that the so-called X Date is more likely than usual to land in the first half of that range.
“At this point, it’s roughly a coin toss whether the X Date hits before Congress returns from its December holiday recess,” Akabas said in a statement. “Based on the data we have right now, failing to act before then would be a high-stakes gamble.”
BPC’s new projection comes two days after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told lawmakers that the U.S. would likely run out of ways to pay the country’s bills on time at any point after Dec. 15.
