CNN is reporting that the Treasury is having to take measures to avoid going into default...

U.S. dangerously close to debt limit

The Treasury Department suspended investments in a federal employee pension fund Thursday to keep the government below its borrowing limit, Treasury Secretary John Snow said in a letter to Congress.

Snow said payments to the $56 billion Federal Employee Retirement System's Government Securities Investment Fund, known as the G-fund, would be restored once Congress raises the $7.384 trillion debt ceiling. [...]

The government was just $10 billion below the limit as of Tuesday, according to the latest available data.

Congress adjourned for an election break last weekend without raising the politically sensitive limit. [...]

Congress has already raised the debt limit twice during the Bush administration's tenure, in 2002 and 2003.