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1 1 (January 25, 2024)

handle is hein.crs/goveocw0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional ____ R ~fesearch Service Debt Limit Policy Questions: How Long Do Extraordinary Measures Last? Updated January 25, 2024 Extraordinary measures are operations undertaken by the Department of Treasury to prevent a binding debt limit. Federal debt subject to the statutory limit, codified at 31 U.S.C. §3101, cannot legally exceed that limit. This Insight examines the factors that influence how long extraordinary measures can prevent a debt limit from binding and summarizes recent extraordinary measures experiences. What Are Extraordinary Measures? Extraordinary measures are actions the Treasury Secretary uses to delay a binding debt limit. Two provisions in statute-5 U.S.C. @8348 and 5 U.S.C. @8909-authorize extraordinary measures. These measures have been regularly invoked in recent years. The Secretary regularly provides detailed descriptions of extraordinary measures upon implementation. Recently, these measures have included suspension of debt issuances to certain federal retirement accounts and for state and local government securities. Once lawmakers raise or suspend the debt limit and extraordinary measures end, Treasury must compensate any impacted federal accounts for their lost savings. Treasury may also adjust the operating cash balance in its general account in response to a debt limit episode, though that is a regular financial management tool rather than an extraordinary measure. For more background on extraordinary measures, see CRS Insight IN10837, Debt Limit Policy Questions: What Are Extraordinary Measures?. Variation in Extraordinary Measures Endurance The length of time between implementation of extraordinary measures and their projected exhaustion is a function of several factors, including legislative changes that affect the deficit, the timing of federal receipts, and the timing of federal outlays. Extraordinary measures available to Treasury can change over time as federal statutes (and Administration interpretations) change. The debt room that each measure provides also shifts for reasons specific to the measure and underlying account. Descriptions of recent extraordinary measures suggest that the extraordinary measures used and the debt room provided by those measures have been relatively constant in recent years. The amount of time it takes to exhaust extraordinary measures depends not only on how much debt room those measures provide, but also how quickly the federal debt subject to the limit is rising. All else equal, higher net federal deficits will translate to faster increases in debt subject to limit, which can be caused by Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov IN12147 CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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