Janet Yellen tells Congress that U.S. could hit debt limit in mid-January

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a letter sent to congressional leaders Friday afternoon that her agency will need to start taking "extraordinary measures" or special accounting maneuvers intended to prevent the nation from hitting the debt ceiling as early as Jan. 14.

"Treasury expects to hit the statutory debt ceiling between January 14 and January 23," Yellen wrote in a letter addressed to House and Senate leadership, at which point extraordinary measures would be used to prevent the government from breaching the nation's debt ceiling — which has been suspended until Jan. 1, 2025.

The department has in the past deployed what are known as "extraordinary measures" or accounting maneuvers to keep the government operating. But once those measures run out the government risks defaulting on its debt unless lawmakers and the president agree to lift the limit on the U.S. government's ability to borrow.