Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Friday that she may have to take “extraordinary measures” to keep the federal government functioning if lawmakers can’t raise or suspend the debt limit—a warning that comes as House Speaker Mike Johnson navigates the tricky issue of maintaining GOP support.

WASHINGTON—Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the U.S. will hit its borrowing limit in the middle of next month, triggering the use of “extraordinary measures” to keep the federal government from defaulting on its obligations.

The notification to Congress is the clearest sign yet that the fight to avoid default will likely take place in the early months of the new Trump administration.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said her department is likely to begin taking special accounting maneuvers sometime in mid-January to avoid breaching the US debt limit, and urged lawmakers to take action defending the “full faith and credit” of the US.