In a letter, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote that the new date when the US will run out of money is June 5.
“Based on the most recent available data, we now estimate that Treasury will have insufficient resources to satisfy the government’s obligations if Congress has not raised or suspended the debt limit by June 5,” Yellen wrote to congressional leaders.
The letter comes as the White House and House Republican negotiators still haven’t reached a deal. It gives the negotiating teams a modest reprieve as they remain stuck on several issues in the discussions, including work requirements and how to handle federal spending in the coming years.
The good news for the country is that there is more time to get something done. The bad news for the country is that the new date gives Kevin McCarthy and House Republicans, many of whom believe that the default date is made up and fake, more time to screw this up and wreck the US economy.
Notice that the White House is not negotiating the debt limit with Republicans, but they are trying to cut a spending deal. Kevin McCarthy and his collection of the world’s least intelligent supervillains are off on their own planet where they think that they will be able to force Biden to agree to their spending cuts demands, but that is not going to happen.
The June 5th date is significant in real-world terms because Americans who rely on Social Security will get their June checks, which will spare them the nightmare of suddenly having bills to pay and no income.
Nobody should feel comfortable in this situation, but having a few more days, even with Kevin McCarthy involved, is better than having less.