Janet Yellen warns Congress again of debt default

In her second letter to Congress in two weeks, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warns the agency will be unlikely to meet payment obligations by June 1

The U.S. Treasury Department says it is just weeks away from running out of money to pay the nation’s bills.

In her second letter to Congress in two weeks, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warns the agency will be unlikely to meet payment obligations by June 1.

This would trigger the first-ever U.S. default.

The new date reflects further data on revenues and payments received since Yellen told lawmakers in May that Treasury is running out of cash.

This fresh warning comes a day before Joe Biden is expected to meet House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for talks.

Yellen says she will provide an additional update to Congress next week as more information becomes available.

Of course, Biden will travel to Japan on Wednesday for a Group of Seven leaders summit, then onto Australia for a trip that will stretch over a week.

On Monday, McCarthy said there had been no progress in marathon talks throughout the weekend.

Yellen has repeatedly warned a failure by Congress to raise the $31.4 trillion federal debt limit could spark a “constitutional crisis” and unleash an “economic and financial catastrophe”.