U.S. Treasury Suspends Federal Employees' Pension Fund Investments to Stay Under $16.7 Trillion Debt Limit
U.S. Treasury says suspends pension fund payments to stay under debt limit
Reuters - The U.S. Treasury said on Friday it suspended investments into a federal employee retirement fund to ensure that it can stay under the $16.7 trillion federal debt limit.
The move will provide $160 billion in additional borrowing capacity, the largest of the so-called extraordinary measures that the Treasury has at its disposal to ensure that the limit is not breached. In total, the measures provide about $260 billion in borrowing capacity.
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, in a letter to the U.S. Congress distributed at the Treasury, said the Government Securities Investment Fund, or G-Fund, will be made whole once the debt limit is increased.
A senior Treasury official declined to provide a new estimate for how much time Congress has before it must act to raise the limit. Previously, the Treasury had said it could continue to pay U.S. obligations without an increase until some time after the Labor Day holiday on Sept. 2.
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