In a letter addressed to Speaker Boehner on Monday, U.S.Treasury Secretary Geithner estimated that we will reach our national debt limit on May 16th. However, he detailed the “extraordinary measures” that the Treasury Department will take to extend borrowing authority until approximately August 2nd of this year if Congress does not reach a budget deal and raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling within the next ten days.
Republican and Democratic leaders met on Thursday and discussed the possible outlines of a plan to trim the deficit, an agreement on which would make way for a vote on raising the debt ceiling. The Treasury estimates that the debt limit needs to be raised by about $2 trillion to get us through to the November 2012 elections. Whether we’ll get to a Congressional debt-ceiling vote before May 16 remains very iffy, as Democrats cling to tax increases and Republicans stick to spending cuts as the modus operandi for tackling the deficit.The next major meeting is scheduled for Tuesday of next week.