It's Only $1.2 Trillion, So No U.S. Treasury Press Release

Friday, January 27, 2012 - 16:02 - By Denny Gulino

WASHINGTON (MNI) - The hour has almost arrived for an important bookeeping entry at the U.S. Treasury Department, the notation that from this day forward the U.S. government can borrow another $1.2 trillion.

Don't look in your inbox for that email from Treasury alerting the world at the close-of-business trigger time. There won't be any, the department said.

Such is the charged political atmosphere in Washington in a presidential election year, the White House appears not to want to again remind anyone of the huge amount of borrowing that is routinely necessary to keep government operating. And Republicans apparently do not want to again showcase the fact there is nothing they can do about it.

Neither side has hesitated in the past when they want to trumpet their battles, stick to their positions and fight to almost their last breath about whether the country should pay its bills. Standard & Poor's memorialized that kind of intransigence late last year, awarding Congress the blame for the first downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt.

Getting past that Capitol Hill trench warfare meant both sides reluctantly agreeing to a short-term fix to the paralysis over further borrowing. In three steps the White House would get its borrowing power, enough to last past the election into early 2013. The third step is Friday's quiet $1.2 trillion that will show up on the daily report of Treasury cash balances Monday.