US to hit debt ceiling 'by mid-October'

The US is on course to hit its debt ceiling by mid-October unless the government intervenes, according to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.

The ceiling, which was raised in January after protracted wrangling between Republicans and Democrats, currently stands at $16.7tn (£10.7tn). But in a letter to house speaker John Boehner, Lew said, on its current course, the government will be unable to meet defence and health spending by mid-October. "At that point, the US would reach the limits of its borrowing authority, and the Treasury would be left to fund the government with the cash we have to hand on any given day," he said.  Raising the limit of would not jeopardise the country, but would simply allow the Treasury to pay...