Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Says Deal On Debt Ceiling Rise Increase May Not Be Needed Until June

The U.S. might be able to avoid the political theater of trying to raise the federal debt ceiling until June 2014, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Congress voted last month to extend the debt limit through Feb. 7, 2014, but the U.S. Treasury Department can use “extraordinary measures” to avoid a default, like suspending retirement fund investments, according to a story from Bloomberg News published Thursday.

And with income-tax receipts piling up ahead of the April 15 tax-filing deadline, the government may have enough cash on hand to meet scheduled payments until June.

The extraordinary-measures power of the treasury could last for about a month, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Wednesday.

Congress nearly exhausted U.S. borrowing authority in August 2011 and in October 2013. In 2011, Congress reached an agreement to cut spending. This year, few policy changes were enacted.