WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday that the nation's debt limit must be raised in September to avoid a federal government debt default.
"Secretary of the Treasury, Senator Schumer and I had a good meeting this morning in my office to discuss the raising of the debt ceiling, which we all know will need to be done sometime in the next month or so," McConnell said after meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.
"We are going to be looking for a way forward to do that together to make sure America continues to never, ever default," he said.
McConnell's remarks came after Mnuchin last week urged Congress to increase the debt limit by the end of September.
"I believe that it is critical that Congress act to increase the nation's borrowing authority by September 29," Mnuchin said in a letter to Republican and Democratic congressional leaders.
"I urge Congress to act promptly on this important matter," added the secretary.
The debt limit is the maximum amount of debt that the Treasury can issue to the public and to the other federal agencies. The amount of outstanding debt subject to limit has now risen to about 19.9 trillion U.S. dollars.
The U.S. Treasury has begun using bookkeeping maneuvers to continue to finance the government's activities since the federal government's outstanding debt reached its statutory limit on March 15.
