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1 1 (April 12, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govzhx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Extraordinary Measures and the Debt Limit Updated April 12, 2019 Following a period of suspension, the statutory debt limit was reinstated on March 2, 2019, at $21.988 trillion, precisely accommodating the federal borrowing undertaken up to that date. Following the debt limit's reinstatement Treasury Secretary Mnuchin began implementing extraordinary measures to delay a binding debt limit. Secretary Mnuchin had informed Congress of his intention to implement these measures in a February 21, 2019, letter to Congress. Extraordinary measures were last implemented from March 2017 through September 2017 and from December 2017 through February 2018, until passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (BBA 2018; P.L. 115-123, February 9, 2018) suspended the statutory debt limit through March 1, 2019. This Insight briefly examines the use of extraordinary measures and its subsequent effects on federal debt activity. 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. §3101) 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 debt limit by periods ranging from a few weeks to several months, depending on when such measures were enacted (see the How Long Do Extraordinary Measures Last? section). Accounts and members of the public that are affected by extraordinary measures must be compensated for the delay in payment that resulted from such actions when the debt limit is subsequently modified. Before or during a period when extraordinary measures are implemented, Treasury typically provides a description of the extraordinary measures available and estimates of their effect on federal borrowing capacity (or how much headroom they will add). The most recent description of such measures was Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov IN10837 CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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