U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) is seeking information from the U.S. Treasury Department on its current projection of the date when the U.S. would default on its debt if the debt limit is not raised.
“According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) ‘…the government’s ability to borrow using extraordinary measures will be exhausted between July and September.’ Thus, according to CBO the so-called X-Date is projected to occur sometime in the fourth quarter of the current fiscal year,” McHenry wrote in a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
McHenry is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.
“Treasury has not provided Congress or the American people with its projection of the X-Date, and it is unclear whether recent projections by Treasury fiscal managers concur with the recent CBO projections. Clarity about such fiscal projections is necessary, however, uncertain projections may be,” McHenry wrote.
By X-date, McHenry is referring to the date that the United States would default on its debt if the debt limit is not raised.
“Treasury must be fully transparent about the federal debt, projections about how long headroom under the debt limit can be maintained with ‘extraordinary measures,’ and projections about Treasury’s operating cash balance. As an agent with certain authorities to manage debt and other fiscal operations, Treasury has no right to withhold information about debt or any other fiscal operation or projections from the American people or Congress,” McHenry added.
He is asking Treasury to provide the current projection of the X-Date, along with how Treasury arrived at the projection, by March 6.