Janet L. Yellen, the outgoing Treasury secretary, urged lawmakers to raise the debt limit and protect the full faith and credit of the United States.

In one of her last acts as Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen said her agency will start taking “extraordinary measures,” or special accounting maneuvers intended to prevent the nation from hitting the debt ceiling,

The breach of the debt ceiling officially starts the clock on how long Trump and Congress will have to act to avoid a financially catastrophic default.