Yellen urges the U.S. Congress on how to quickly address the debt limit

WASHINGTON (Reuters), Jan 13 – U.S. Treasury Secret Janet Yellen indicated Friday that the United States could reach the statutory limit of its debt on January 19, forcing the Treasury into taking “extraordinary measures to prevent a default.”

“Once the limit is reached Treasury will need to begin taking some extraordinary measures to stop the United States from defaulting upon its obligations,” Yellen wrote in a letter to congressional leadership in which she urged legislators to take swift action to increase the debt ceiling.

“While Treasury is not currently able to provide an estimate of how long extraordinary measures will enable us to continue to pay the government’s obligations, it is unlikely that cash and extraordinary measures will be exhausted before early June,” the letter added. Reporting by Kanishka Singh, Ismail Shakil; Editing done by Tim Ahmann