On February 9, 2018, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 was signed into law and the debt limit was suspended through March 1, 2019.

Absent further action by Congress, when the suspension expires, Treasury will once again find itself up against the debt limit. At that point, the Secretary would begin deploying so-called “extraordinary measures,” accounting maneuvers that allow for full government operations to continue for an additional, but limited, period of time.

If those extraordinary measures run out and Treasury depletes its cash reserves, the federal government would reach the “X Date” – the day when the U.S. government is unable to meet all of its obligations in full and on time. BPC’s preliminary analysis indicates Treasury will have enough cash on hand and extraordinary measures to operate the government through at least the summer, if not the fall, of 2019.