ジャネット・イエレン財務長官は以前、このような措置が少なくとも6月初旬まで政府の運営を維持する可能性が高いと推定していた.
- 2023 年 1 月 19 日
- ブルームバーグニュース
-
財務省は、木曜日に連邦政府の債務上限に達した後、米国の支払い不履行を回避するための特別措置の使用を開始しています。
財務省は、政府が運営する退職者向けの 2 つの基金への投資を変更しています。これにより、財務省は、全体的な債務水準を引き上げることができなくても、連邦政府の支払いを継続できるようになります。
ジャネット・イエレン財務長官は、木曜日に両党の議会指導者に書簡で通知した。彼女は先週、債務上限が1月19日に達すると警告したときに、すでに彼らに計画を通知していました.
Yellen reiterated that the period of time that the extraordinary measures will avoid the government running out of cash is “subject to considerable uncertainty,” and urged Congress to act promptly to boost the debt limit. Last week she said the steps wouldn’t likely be exhausted before early June.
[More: Advisors downplay prospects for debt default, comfort clients]
The specific funds affected by the Treasury’s move are:
- The Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund, or CSRDF, which provides defined benefits to retired and disabled federal employees
- The Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund, or PSRHBF, which provides postal service retiree health-benefit-premium payments.
The two funds invest in special-issue Treasury securities that count under the debt limit. After the debt limit is increased, they will be “made whole,” with participants unaffected.
It’s far from the first time the Treasury has resorted to these moves: Since 1985, the agency has used such measures more than a dozen times.
For the CSRDF, Yellen said that the Treasury is entering a “debt-issuance suspension period” starting Thursday and lasting through June 5. The Treasury will suspend additional investments credited to the fund and redeem a portion of the investments held by it, she said.
As for the PSRHBF, the Treasury will suspend additional investments of amounts credited to that fund, Yellen said.
Last week, Yellen had advised that the Treasury also anticipated tapping — this month — the resources of a third fund, the Government Securities Investment Fund of the Federal Employees Retirement System Thrift Savings Plan. The so-called G Fund is a defined-contribution retirement fund for federal employees, and also invests in special-issue Treasury securities that count under the debt limit. Yellen’s letter on Thursday made no mention of the G Fund.
Yellen’s letter didn’t specify the amount of headroom under the debt ceiling that would be created by the extraordinary measures she listed.
The Treasury probably now has $350 billion to $400 billion of headroom available in all, said Gennadiy Goldberg, a senior U.S. rates strategist at TD Securities. That, along with the influx of revenue that will come from individual income taxes due in April, should let the Treasury go until sometime in the July to August window without running out of cash, he said.
Other measures the Treasury has taken in the past to conserve headroom under the debt limit include suspending the daily reinvestment of securities held by the Exchange Stabilization Fund. That’s a special vehicle that dates back to the 1930s, over which the Treasury secretary has wide discretion.
財務省は以前、州政府および地方政府の一連の財務省債の発行も停止しました。これらの証券は、州および地方政府が現金を預けることができる場所であり、連邦政府の債務制限にカウントされます。これらの政府は、SLGS の発行が停止されると、他の資産に投資する必要があります。
Robertson Stephens の CEO である Raj Bhattacharyya との「IN the Office」
この記事の転載とライセンスの詳細については、こちらをご覧ください。
