Treasure Secretary Janet Yellen mentioned Friday she might must take “extraordinary measures” to maintain the federal authorities operating if lawmakers fail to lift or droop the debt restrict — a warning that comes from the House speaker Mike Johnson addresses the fragile difficulty of sustaining GOP help.
“I respectfully urge Congress to behave to guard the complete religion and credit score of the United States,” Yellen wrote in a letter to members of Congress. According to Yellen, the “extraordinary measures” are anticipated to be mandatory between January 14 and 23.
In addition to representing a problem for the brand new Trump administration, which most popular that the debt ceiling difficulty be resolved by Inauguration Day, the difficulty is especially thorny for Johnson as a result of slim Republican margins within the House.
A debt ceiling enhance with out the help of any Democrats would imply that we might solely afford a few Republican defections. But as historical past has proven, a number of the GOP’s most hardline members might simply reject any deal. In flip, Johnson’s position as speaker might be put in jeopardy.
Without the election of a speaker, points that might come up might embrace the House’s incapacity to certify the outcomes of the 2024 election on Jan. 6, because the newly elected speaker should swear to members to conduct their enterprise.
The Constitution states that every new Congress begins at midday on January 3. In June 2023, President Joe Biden and then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy agreed to droop the debt restrict. The suspension is at present anticipated to finish on January 2.
