Treasury To Take Steps To Avoid Breaching U.S. Debt Limit

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Friday said the agency would suspend the issuance of certain securities and federal retirement investments to prevent the government from exceeding the nation's debt limit when it goes back into effect on Monday. The U.S. debt limit becomes active again on Monday after a one-year suspension, with a ceiling of around $18 trillion. Lew also urged Congress to raise the debt limit as quickly as possible and not to allow the issue to become a political football. "The creditworthiness of the United States is not a bargaining chip, and I again urge Congress to address this matter without controversy or brinksmanship," Lew wrote in a second letter to House Speaker John Boehner in two weeks.