According to the Congressional Budget Office’s most recent estimate, the United States could face a fiscal crisis sometime between mid‑August and the end of September, when the Treasury’s temporary accounting measures used to avoid surpassing the debt ceiling are expected to be exhausted.
This revised projection pushes the potential deadline roughly two weeks later than the CBO’s March estimate, giving Congress a bit more time to act to raise the federal borrowing limit. Since the debt ceiling was reinstated in January, the Treasury Department has relied on “extraordinary measures” to meet the government’s financial obligations without exceeding the $36.1 trillion statutory limit on federal debt.
Republican lawmakers are developing legislation to expand the Treasury’s borrowing authority as part of President Trump’s proposed tax package. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has urged lawmakers to take action by mid‑July to avoid a situation in which the government cannot make timely payments on its obligations.