DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY 

The Honorable John A. Boehner 

Speaker 

U.S. House ofRepresentatives 

Washington, DC 20515 

Dear Mr. Speaker: 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

September 25, 2013 

I am writing to follow up on my previous letter regarding the debt limit and the Department of 

the Treasury's ability to continue to finance the government. 

As I have written previously, Treasury's estimates are subject to inherent variability due to a 

variety of factors, such as the impact of sequestration and the challenges of forecasting the 

timing and amount of daily government transactions. On August 26, I wrote to inform you that 

the extraordinary measures we are employing to preserve borrowing capacity would be 

exhausted in the middle of October. We estimated that, at that point, we would have 

approximately $50 billion to fund the government-an amount insufficient to cover net expenses 

for a meaningful period of time. 

Since August, we have received quarterly corporate and individual tax receipts and additional 

information regarding the activities of certain large trust funds, including military retirement 

trust funds. Treasury now estimates that extraordinary measures will be exhausted no later than 

October 17. We estimate that, at that point, Treasury would have only approximately $30 billion 

to meet our country's commitments. This amount would be far short of net expenditures on 

certain days, which can be as high as $60 billion. If we have insufficient cash on hand, it would 

be impossible for the United States of America to meet all of its obligations for the first time in 

our history. 

The House of Representatives recently passed legislation that includes an ill-advised provision to 

prioritize payments, which would not protect the full faith and credit of the United States. Any 

plan to prioritize some payments over others is simply default by another name. The United 

States should never have to choose, for example, whether to pay Social Security to seniors, pay 

benefits to our veterans, or make payments to state and local jurisdictions and health care 

providers under Medicare and Medicaid. There is no way of knowing the damage any 

prioritization plan would have on our economy and financial markets. It would represent an 

irresponsible retreat from a core American value: We are a nation that honors all of its 

commitments. 
The debt limit impasse that took place in 2011 caused significant harm to the economy and a 

downgrade to the credit rating of the United States. The drawn-out dispute caused business 

uncertainty to increase, consumer confidence to drop, and financial markets to fall. If Congress 

were to repeat that brinksmanship in 2013, it could inflict even greater harm on the economy. 

And if the government should ultimately become unable to pay all of its bills, the results could 

be catastrophic. 

The President remains willing to negotiate over the future direction of fiscal policy, but he will 

not negotiate over whether the United States will pay its bills for past commitments. Extending 

borrowing authority does not increase government spending; it simply allows the Treasury to pay 

for expenditures Congress has already approved. As such, I respectfully urge Congress to act 

immediately to meet its responsibility by extending the nation's borrowing authority. 

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