Yellen, in a letter to House and Senate leaders, noted that the nation’s debt ceiling — the total amount of money the federal government is authorized to borrow to pay for obligations such as Social Security and Medicare benefits — was suspended in June 2023 but will once again be in effect on Jan. 1.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says 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 January 14th,