DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY 

The Honorable John A. Boehner 

Speaker 

U.S. House of Representatives 

Washington, DC 20515 

Dear Mr. Speaker: 

October 1, 2015 

I am writing to follow up on my previous letters regarding the debt limit and to provide 

additional information regarding the Department of the Treasury's ability to continue to finance 

the government. 

In recent letters, I projected that the extraordinary measures we have been employing to preserve 

borrowing capacity would not be exhausted before late October 2015 and that they likely would 

last for at least a brief additional period of time. I cautioned, however, that Treasury's estimates 

regarding the debt limit are subject to inherent variability, given the challenges of forecasting the 

timing and amount of thousands of daily government transactions. 

Over the past ten days, we have received quarterly corporate and individual tax receipts and 

additional information about the activities of certain large trust funds, including military 

retirement trust funds. The tax receipts were lower than we previously projected, and the trust 

fund investments were higher than projected- resulting in a net decrease of resources available 

to the United States government. 

Based on this new information, we now estimate that Treasury is likely to exhaust its 

extraordinary measures on or about Thursday, November 5. At that point, we would be left to 

fund the government with only the cash we have on hand, which we currently forecast to be 

below $3 0 billion. This amount would be far short of net expenditures on certain days, which 

can be as high as $60 billion. Moreover, given certain payments that are due in early to midNovember, we anticipate that our remaining cash would be depleted quickly. Without sufficient 

cash, it would be impossible for the United States of America to meet all of its obligations for the 

first time in our history. 

Again, Treasury's estimates are subject to inherent variability and could change as we receive 

additional information about daily receipts, investments, and expenditures. Over the last several 

weeks, the trend in our projected net resources has been negative, which has reduced the amount 

of time that we expect to be able to finance the government. The ultimate date that Treasury 

exhausts extraordinary measures, however, could be sooner or later than November 5. We will 

continue to update Congress as we receive additional information. 
Finally, in my previous letter, I noted that Treasury's cash balance already had fallen below 

$150 billion. Maintaining this minimum prudent balance helps protect against potential market 

interruptions, but it does not increase the debt limit or alter the time we can continue to pay the 

nation's bills. Treasury's cash balance rose temporarily after the September 15 tax deadline. 

Today, we anticipate that it will again fall below the minimum balance, and we expect it will 

continue to fall until Congress raises the debt limit. 

Protecting the full faith and credit of the United States is the responsibility of the United States 

Congress. There is no way to predict the catastrophic damage that default would have on our 

economy and global financial markets. Moreover, we have learned from previous debt limit 

impasses that failing to act until the last minute and engaging in partisan brinksmanship can 

cause serious harm to business and consumer confidence, raise short-term borrowing costs for 

taxpayers, and negatively impact the credit rating of the United States. To remove these 

unnecessary and avoidable threats, I respectfully urge Congress to take action as soon as possible 

and raise the debt limit well before Treasury exhausts its extraordinary measures. 

Sincerely, 

Jacob J. Lew 

Identical letter sent to: 

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic Leader 

The Honorable Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader 

The Honorable Harry Reid, Senate Democratic Leader 

cc: The Honorable Paul Ryan, Chairman, House Committee on Ways and Means 

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

The Honorable Orrin G. Hatch, Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance 

The Honorable Ron Wyden, Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Finance 

All other Members of the 114 th Congress