Yellen’s Announces Extraordinary Measures for Debt Ceiling [Video]

In one of her last acts as Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen said her agency will start taking “extraordinary measures,” or special accounting maneuvers intended to prevent the nation from hitting the debt ceiling, on Jan. 21, in a letter sent to congressional leaders Friday afternoon.She sent a letter in late December to lawmakers stating that Treasury expected to hit the statutory debt ceiling between Jan. 14 and Jan. 23. And now, the agency will stop paying into certain accounts, including the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund and the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund, to make up for the shortfall in money. The department has in the past deployed what are known as “extraordinary measures,” or accounting maneuvers, to keep the government operating. But once those measures run out, the government risks defaulting on its debt unless lawmakers and the president agree to lift the limit on the U.S. …