U.S. might not be able to pay bills after December 15, Treasury Secretary Yellen says

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the United States might not be able to pay its bills after December 15 as the United States barrels toward hitting the debt limit. The new so-called x-date comes just over one month after lawmakers reached a short-term deal to raise the debt limit into December. 

In a letter to congressional leadership on Tuesday, Yellen said while she has a "high degree of confidence" that the Treasury will be able to finance the government through December 15, she said there are scenarios in which the Treasury would be left with "insufficient remaining resources to continue to finance the operations of the U.S. government beyond this date." 

Yellen had previously said she was confident the U.S. would be able to finance its obligations through December 3.