WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin informed Congress on Monday that he will stop making payments into two government retirement funds now that the debt limit has gone back into effect.
In a letter to congressional leaders, Mnuchin said that he would stop making investments into a civil service retirement fund and a postal service retirement fund.
These are among the actions that Mnuchin is allowed to take to keep from exceeding the debt limit, which went back into effect on Saturday at a level of $22 trillion.
The debt limit had been suspended for a year under a 2018 budget deal. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that Mnuchin likely has enough maneuvering room to avoid a catastrophic default on the national debt until around September.
The U.S. government has never missed a debt payment although budget battle between then-President Barack Obama and Republicans in 2011 pushed approval of an increase in the debt limit so close to a default that the Standard and Poor’s rating agency downgraded a portion of the country’s credit rating for the first time in history.
The Congressional Budget Office said in a report that issuing new securities for the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund and the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund pushed the debt up by $3 billion each month. Mnuchin said both funds would be made whole once Congress approves an increase in the debt limit.
“I respectfully urge Congress to protect the full faith and credit of the United States by acting to increase the statutory debt limit as soon as possible,” Mnuchin said in his letter.
‘Mnuchin said both funds would be made whole…’ Don’t count your chicken there Mnuching…these rabid dbags will surprise you every time how willing they are the screw the middle class.
Yep! Let’s see if what he said actually holds true later on…
OK, I am confused. Besides this being a crappy thing to do, what does government funding have to do with the Postal department? From a while ago, I remember that the Post office is the one place where they prepay the retirement for workers they will ever hire and that is why they are in constant debt. no one else has to pay for people they have not hired yet. SO… does this mean that on top of that onerous debt, the government is stealing their money? What does the budget have to do with their the postal retirement plan?
“The Congressional Budget Office estimates that Mnuchin likely has enough maneuvering room to avoid a catastrophic default on the national debt until around September.”
Given the level of his incompetence, I’d say next Thursday…
So Mnuchey how’s that Tax Cut, Cut, Cut Act doing at reducing our debt thingy?