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. 

October 1, 2013 

I am writing to follow up on my previous letters regarding the Department of the Treasury's 

responsibility to finance the government and to protect the full faith and credit of the United 

States. 

In May of this year, the U.S. government reached the statutory debt limit, and Treasury began 

taking certain extraordinary measures to be able to continue, on a temporary basis, to pay the 

nation's bills. Today, I am writing to inform Congress that as of today Treasury has begun using 

the final extraordinary measures. There are no other legal and prudent options to extend the 

nation's borrowing authority. The impact ofthese measures was incorporated into the forecast 

that I shared with you last week, and Treasury continues to believe that extraordinary measures 

will be exhausted no later than October 17, 2013. 

Each of these measures is authorized by law, and each has been used by previous Secretaries of 

the Treasury during past debt limit impasses: 

• Treasury will suspend, as necessary, the daily reinvestment of the portion of the 

Exchange Stabilization Fund that is invested in Treasury securities. 

• Treasury will enter into a debt swap with the Federal Financing Bank and the Civil 

Service Retirement and Disability Fund (CSRDF), which will lead to the elimination 

of a limited amount of debt that counts against the debt limit. Although this measure 

is oflimited value, I have determined that it should be used given the urgency of the 

situation. 

• With regard to the CSRDF, I have previously determined that a "debt issuance 

suspension period" exists through October 11. I have now determined that, by reason 

of the statutory debt limit, I will continue to be unable to fully invest the portion of 

the CSRDF not immediately required to pay beneficiaries, and that the debt issuance 

suspension period will continue through October 17. 
As previously noted, all of these measures were incorporated into the estimate that I provided 

last week and do not provide Congress with more time to act. It is important to note that once 

the final extraordinary measures are exhausted, no later than October 17, we will be left to meet 

our country's commitments at that time with only approximately $30 billion. This amount 

would be far short of net expenditures on certain days, which can be as high as $60 billion. 

Although the current lapse in appropriations creates some additional uncertainty, we do not 

believe it will impact our projections materially unless it continues for an extended period of 

time. 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. For this reason, 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 ofthe 1131

h Congress