Treasury expects to run out of money Nov. 3, two days early

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Treasury on Thursday moved up the timetable for when it will run out of money -- Nov. 3 -- should lawmakers not raise the debt ceiling before then.

Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew initially warned the U.S. government would exhaust its funds Nov. 5, but amended that date by two days.

"At that point, we expect Treasury would be left with less than $30 billion to meet all of the nation's commitments -- an amount far short of net expenditures on certain days, which can be as high as $60 billion," Lew wrote in a letter to Congress on Thursday.

By Nov. 3, Congress must raise the debt ceiling or risk a government default. Should this occur, Lew said the government would not be able to make all 80 million payments for which it is responsible each month, including Social Security, military salaries and Medicare reimbursements.

"Operating the United States government with no borrowing authority, and with only the cash on hand on a given day, would be profoundly irresponsible," he said.

Meanwhile, Lew reiterated his stance that the Treasury's cash balance should not fall below the $150 billion mark, which he said helps protect the country against market interruptions often caused by natural disasters and large-scale terror attacks like on Sept. 11, 2001.

"For these reasons, I respectfully urge Congress to take action as soon as possible, raise the debt limit without delay, and remove an unnecessary threat to our economy. We have learned from the past that failing to act until the last minute can cause serious harm to business and consumer confidence, raise short-term borrowing costs for taxpayers, and negatively impact the credit rating of the United States. And there is no way to predict the irreparable damage that default would have on global financial markets and the American people," Lew wrote.

Several politicians expect Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, will find a way to approve a debt-ceiling fix before his upcoming retirement. Republicans are having difficulty replacing Boehner.