Treasury Secretary Mnuchin: US only has enough money to pay its bills through September

Treasury Secretary Seth Mnuchin has requested that Congress lift the debt ceiling before it leaves for the August recess and warned the government is at risk of running out of money before September.

"We've run lots of models and there are lots of different assumptions," he said. "I am comfortable saying we can fund the government through the beginning of September."

According to the Washington Post, Mnuchin made his comments at a congressional hearing in response to a question about the looming debt ceiling. Failure to lift the ceiling would prevent the Treasury from borrowing enough money to cover the gap between how much money the government brings in and how much it spends.

Mnuchin's revelation stunned analysts who believed the government had a larger window of opportunity -- projecting enough money to fund government operations through October or November.