Treasury Says It Can Stay Below Debt Limit Briefly Past End Of October

Treasury Department officials said Wednesday that extraordiary measures now in place will keep the federal government from hitting the debt ceiling for at least a brief time after Oct. 30. Last month, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew told Congress that the debt ceiling would not be hit before end of October. Treasury officials said the department will have to temporarily reduce the level of Treasury bill issuance over the next few months as the debt ceiling nears. Treasury announced that it will auction $64 billion in notes and bonds next week in its regular quarterly-refunding auctions. The auction size is unchanged from the May refunding.