DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY 

The Honorable John A. Boehner 

Speaker 

U.S. House of Representatives 

Washington, DC 20515 

Dear Mr. Speaker: 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

December 19, 2013 

Last week, the House of Representatives passed- with an overwhelming bipartisan majority- a 

budget agreement that provides partial relief from the sequester for FY 2014 and FY 2015, and 

enacts spending and other reforms. Yesterday, a bipartisan majority of the United States Senate 

passed the same agreement. With these votes, Congress again has demonstrated its ability to 

work constructively to address the country's most pressing fiscal issues. 

In this spirit, I am writing to urge Congress to take prompt action to protect the full faith and 

credit of the United States by extending the nation's borrowing authority. It is incumbent on 

Congress to allow Treasury to finance the spending levels established in the budget agreement as 

well as the commitments previously approved by Congress. 

In October, Congress passed the Continuing Appropriations Act to suspend the statutory debt 

limit through February 7, 2014. When that suspension period ends, the United States will reach 

the debt limit again. At that time, in the absence of Congressional action, Treasury would be 

forced to take extraordinary measures to continue to finance the government on a temporary 

basis. We currently estimate that through the use of these measures, we would be able to extend 

the nation's borrowing authority only until late February or early March 2014. While this 

forecast is subject to inherent variability, we do not foresee any reasonable scenario in which the 

extraordinary measures would last for an extended period of time- principally because the 

government experiences large net cash outflows in February and March due to tax refunds. 

Protecting the full faith and credit of the United States is the responsibility of Congress, because 

only Congress can extend the nation's borrowing authority. No Congress in our history has 

failed to meet that responsibility. The creditworthiness of the United States is an essential 

underpinning of our strength as a nation; it is not a bargaining chip to be used for partisan 

political ends. Moreover, as you know, increasing the debt limit does not authorize new 

spending commitments. It simply allows the government to pay for expenditures Congress has 

already approved. 
The American public expects its leaders to put an end to governing by crisis and to focus on 

promoting economic growth and job creation. I respectfully urge Congress to take action to raise 

the debt limit at the earliest possible moment and ideally well before February 7, 2014. 

Sincerely, 

Jacob J. Lew 

Identical letter sent to: 

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic Leader 

The Honorable Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader 

The Honorable Mitch McConnell, Senate Republican Leader 

cc: The Honorable Dave Camp, Chairman, House Committee on Ways and Means 

The Honorable Sander M. Levin, Ranking Member, House Committee on Ways and Means 

The Honorable Max Baucus, Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance 

The Honorable Orrin G. Hatch, Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Finance 

All other Members of the 113 th Congress