Snow has issued increasingly urgent warnings to Congress that the statutory debt limit of 8.184 trillion dollars will be hit this week, and that the government will then lose its borrowing power.

Once the US government reaches the ceiling, it comes under threat of defaulting on its debts and can lose the ability to raise future credit on the capital markets.

Last week, Snow said new issues of federal debt instruments would only raise enough cash to keep government operations financed until mid-March.

But Democratic members of Congress are said to be balking at increasing the debt limit unless the administration of President George W. Bush, which has overseen a huge rise in the US budget deficit, curbs its appetite for funds.