Reid, Lew at odds on when debt limit might arrive

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- The Senate majority leader said Thursday the U.S. debt limit might not be reached until May, while the treasury secretary said it could arrive much sooner.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters on Capitol Hill he was told Wednesday -- during a meeting at the White House between Senate Democrats and President Barack Obama -- the government's borrowing authority is likely to hold out until "we think sometime in May. Maybe it's April, I don't know, but we'll deal with it."

Reid's comment is at odds with one by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, who Thursday told a Washington audience the debt ceiling is likely to arrive in February, The Hill reported.

"If Congress is looking at the numbers the way we are, and we have the best data, they would see we're looking [a deadline] more at the end of February than anytime in March," Lew said during an interview at an event sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations.

The current limit -- $16.7 trillion -- was suspended in October when Congress adopted a temporary spending resolution to end the federal government shutdown. It is scheduled to go back into effect Feb. 7.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters at a news conference Thursday the United States "shouldn't even get close to" allowing the borrowing limit to expire.

"I would hope that the House and the Senate would act quickly on a bill to increase the debt limit," he said.