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The Treasury Department has been steadily pouring money into paying the nation’s bills amid the debt ceiling crisis.

The Treasury held $57.3 billion in cash as of Thursday, according to federal data. When the agency receives income and makes payments, the amount increases, but at the beginning of the month, the boxes from the tax collectors are relatively less than the balance of 238.5 billion dollars.

Since the United States hit its debt ceiling in January, the Treasury has been forced to rely on cash and extraordinary measures to pay the bills until Congress fixes the debt ceiling. As of Wednesday, the agency has cut its deficit from $220 billion at the end of January to about $92 billion through extraordinary measures.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has repeatedly warned lawmakers that her impunity will expire on June 1. The country has to borrow money to make the payments because its obligations exceed its revenues.

It is not known when the country will hit the so-called X-Day, when the US will leave the United States for the first time in history. Much depends on how much tax revenue comes in over the next few days and weeks. If collections fall short of expectations, as they did last month for the 2022 tax season, Yellen could soon be out of the running to continue paying her bills in full and on time.

Ben Harris, who served as the Treasury’s assistant secretary for economic policy until earlier this year, said the secretary may not know until a day or two later when the country is due.

Take a situation where the balance is reduced to a few billion dollars: If the Treasury relies on receiving a certain amount of revenue on a particular day to cover payments, but several billion dollars come in shortly, it could trigger a default.

“Treasury has guidelines on how much money to be careful with,” Harris said, noting that spending is set for a week of at least $150 billion. “We are definitely below that level now.”

While Yellen, the Congressional Budget Office and many other forecasters could hit the X-date in the first two weeks of June, the Treasury may have enough money to run by the middle of the month.

If that’s the case, it means the government won’t clear the damage until the summer. The agency will get another cash injection from second-quarter tax payments expected on June 15 and $145 billion in “extraordinary action” at the end of the month.

Although X-Day may be around the corner, the White House and House Republican negotiators on Friday halted talks to temporarily resolve the debt ceiling impasse. Negotiations continued in the evening on Capitol Hill.

If the country goes bankrupt, it will create global economic and financial crises. The full impact is unprecedented, but many Americans, businesses, and state and local governments may face delays in receiving federal payments, including Social Security benefits, food stamps, and paychecks for federal employees and military members.

“Negotiators will have to find a solution in the coming days,” said Rachel Snyderman, senior associate director for economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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