The federal government risks defaulting on its debt sometime this summer or early fall without action to address its debt ceiling, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BPC projected the \u201cX-date\u201d will \u201cmost likely occur between August 15 and October 3<\/strong>\u201d if Congress fails to act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCongress must address the debt limit ahead of the August recess,\u201d said Margaret Spellings, president and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center, in a Wednesday statement. \u201cWith so many Americans worried about their own budgets and the state of the economy, Congress can\u2019t afford to inject any additional uncertainty into the mix.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey need to act soon to prioritize our nation\u2019s financial stability<\/strong> and reassure global markets that we take this responsibility seriously,\u201d Spellings added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While it\u2019s difficult to pinpoint a hard X-date, projections become more precise the closer the government arrives to running out of cash. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The debt limit, which caps how much money the Treasury Department can owe to pay the country\u2019s bills, was last suspended in 2023<\/strong> as part of a bipartisan deal that staved off the threat of national default through early 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The national debt stands at more than $36 trillion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Treasury Department has been implementing \u201cextraordinary measures\u201d to buy time for Congress to address the debt ceiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n