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90 Days: Treasury Says Debt Has Been Frozen at $18,112,975,000,000

By Terence P. Jeffrey | June 15, 2015 

(CNSNews.com) - The portion of the federal debt that is subject to a legal limit set by Congress closed Thursday, June 11, at $18,112,975,000,000, according to the latest Daily Treasury Statement, which was published at 4:00 p.m. on Friday.

That, according to the Treasury's statements, makes 90 straight days the debt subject to the limit has been frozen at $18,112,975,000,000.

$18,112,975,000,000 is about $25 million below the current legal debt limit of $18,113,000,080,959.35.

The Daily Treasury Statement for March 13 was the first to show the federal debt subject to the limit closing the day at $18,112,975,000,000. Every Daily Treasury Statement since then has reported the same thing: the debt closing the day at $18,112,975,000,000.

Every Daily Treasury Statement since Monday, March 16, has reported the debt beginning and ending each day at $18,112,975,000,000.

Table III-C on the Daily Treasury Statement for June 11 says the debt began the month of June at $18,112,975,000,000, began the day of June 11 at $18,112,975,000,000, and closed the day of June 11 at $18,112,975,000,000.

On March 13, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and other congressional leaders informing them that he was planning to declare a “debt issuance suspension period.”

The “debt issuance suspension period,” Lew explained, was necessary because in 2014 Congress enacted legislation that “suspended” the debt limit until March 15 and then reinstated it on that date at whatever level the debt had reached by then.

“As you know, in February 2014, Congress passed the Temporary Debt Limit Extension Act, suspending the statutory debt limit through March 15, 2015,” Lew said in his March 13 letter. “Beginning on Monday, March 16, the outstanding debt of the United States will be at the statutory limit. In anticipation of reaching that date, Treasury has suspended until further notice the issue of State and Local Government Series securities, which count against the debt limit.”

State and Local Government Series securities, says the Congressional Research Service, are “customized securities available for state and local governments to hold proceeds of bond sales.” They are considered part of the federal government debt that is held by the “public.”

“Because Congress has not yet acted to raise the debt limit,” Lew said in his March 13 letter, “the Treasury Department will have to employ further extraordinary measures to continue to finance the government on a temporary basis. Therefore, beginning on March 16, I plan to declare a ‘debt issuance suspension period’ with respect to investment of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund and also suspend the daily reinvestment of Treasury securities held by the Government Securities Investment Fund and the Federal Employees’ Retirement System Thrift Savings Plan.”

Lew noted that these same actions had been taken “during previous debt limit impasses.”

For example, as CNSNews.com reported, when Secretary Lew declared a debt issuance suspension period in 2013, the Treasury reported the debt subject to the limit was frozen at $16,699,396,000,000 for 150 days, running from mid-May to mid-October of that year.

The Treasury has posted Frequently Asked Question sheets that explain the actions the Treasury is taking during this “debt issuance suspension period” and their statutory basis.

“Under current law, if the Secretary of the Treasury determines that the issuance of obligations of the United States may not be made without exceeding the debt limit, a ‘debt issuance suspension period’ may be determined,” the Congressional Research Service said in a report published on March 27. “This determination gives the Treasury the authority to suspend investments in the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Trust Fund, Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund, and the Government Securities Investment Fund (G-Fund) of the Federal Thrift Savings Plan.

“In addition,” said CRS, “this gives Treasury the authority to prematurely redeem securities held by the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Trust Fund and Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund.”

"The total federal debt consists of debt held by the public and intragovernmental debt," the CRS said in a report published in 2011. "Debt owed to the public represents borrowing from entities other than the federal government, and includes borrowing from state and local governments, the Federal Reserve System, and foreign central banks, as well as private investors in the United States.

"Intragovernmental debt," said CRS, "consists in debt owed by one part of the federal government to another, which are mostly held in trust funds."

The net effect of the Treasury’s actions is that although the publicly held debt of the government continues to fluctuate--as the Treasury redeems maturing debt held by the public and issues new debt held by the public—the overall debt subject to the limit set by Congress closes each business day at $18,112,975,000,000.

At the close of business on June 8 the debt held by the public was $13,074,878,000,000, according to the Daily Treasury Statement for that day. By the close of business on June 9, it had dropped to $13,068,814,000,000. By the close of business on June 10, it had climbed up to $13,085,348,000,000. And, by the close of business on June 11, it had dropped to $13,082,372,000,000.

But on each one of these four straight days, as on each of the last 90 straight days on record, the debt subject to the legal limit has closed the day at $18,112,975,000,000.