About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

1 1 (January 11, 2018)

handle is hein.crs/crseveryaaapp0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 








   Congressional                                                                 ____
   ~ Research Service
, Informing the leg Isative debate since 19t4




Extraordinary Measures and the Debt Limit



name redated
Analyst in Public Finance

name redated
Research Assistant

January 11, 2018
The statutory debt limit was reinstated on December 9, 2017, at a level that precisely accommodated the
federal borrowing undertaken to that date. On December 11 and 12, 2017, Secretary Mnuchin announced
that the Treasury would implement extraordinary measures that delay when the debt limit will bind.
Additionally, on December 8, 2017, the Bureau of the Fiscal Service suspended sales of certain Treasury
securities to extend the Treasury's ability to meet statutory spending requirements without defaulting on
its debt obligations. This Insight briefly examines the debt limit and the use of extraordinary measures,
and will be updated periodically to reflect changes in the status of federal borrowing.

What Is the Debt Limit?
As part of its power of the purse, Congress uses the statutory debt limit (codified in 31 U.S.C. §3 101)
as a means of restricting federal debt. Debt subject to the limit is more than 99% of total federal debt, and
includes debt held by the public (which is used to finance budget deficits) and debt issued to federal
government accounts (which is used to meet federal obligations). The debt limit acts as a congressional
check on recent revenue and expenditure trends, though decisions affecting debt levels may have been
agreed to by Congress and the Administration well in advance of debt limit deliberations. Some past debt
limit legislation has linked debt limit increases with other fiscal policy proposals.

What Are Extraordinary Measures?
Extraordinary measures represent a series of actions that postpone when Congress must act on debt limit
legislation. The authority for using extraordinary measures rests with the Treasury Secretary (codified in 5
U.S.C. §8348 and 5 U.S.C. §8909). Invoking extraordinary measures has delayed required action on the

                                                               Congressional Research Service
                                                                                      7-....
                                                                                www.crs.gov
                                                                                    IN10837
 CRS INSIGHT
 Prepared for Members and
 Committees of Conaress

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most