There's a new debt ceiling deadline - and it's earlier than everyone expected

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, in a letter to congressional leaders on Thursday, said the nation's debt ceiling would need to be raised by November 5, earlier than was anticipated.

Lew said the earlier-than-anticipated new "X date" estimate was due, in part, to lower-than-expected tax receipts.

"Based on this new information, we now estimate that Treasury is likely to exhaust its extraordinary measures on or about Thursday, November 5. At that point, we would be left to fund the government with only the cash we have on hand, which we currently forecast to be below $30 billion," Lew wrote in the letter.

"This amount would be far short of net expenditures on certain days, which can be as high as $60 billion. Moreover, given certain payments that are due in early to mid-November, we anticipate that our remaining cash would be depleted quickly. Without sufficient cash, it would be impossible for the United States of America to meet all of its obligations for the first time in our history."

The new deadline is one week after House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is set to leave Congress. 

The full letter, sent to Boehner (R-Ohio), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada), is below.

 

More to come...