MNI BRIEF:US Treasury Has $173B in Extraordinary Measures Left

The Treasury Department Friday released a report showing that the agency sees USD173 billion in "extraordinary measures" remaining.

The updated summary of debt balances shows the agency has used USD136 billion of the USD310 billion in authorized extraordinary measures as of September 29, with USD173 billion in headroom remaining. Once Treasury has utilized all of the emergency borrowing authority, only two sources will remain from which to continue funding government operations, including remaining cash on hand, which stands at USD215 billion as of September 30, and daily federal revenues received each day.

Earlier on Friday, Fitch Ratings said that political brinkmanship over the US debt limit could damage the country's otherwise top-notch credit rating, a day after S&P Global Ratings issued a similarly severe warning. The House of Representatives Wednesday voted to suspend the nation's debt limit until December 2022 in a stand-alone bill but the measure is expected to fail in the Senate.