Because 8.965 trillion isn’t enough.

From Forbes:

The US Treasury Department asked Congress today to raise the US debt ceiling, anticipating that the current cap on federal debt will be reached this fall.

In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the current ceiling of 8.965 trln usd would be reached in early October, and that Congress should raise the ceiling ‘as soon as possible.’

‘The actions that are available to the Treasury Department to take in order to avoid breaching the statutory debt limit would create unnecessary uncertainty for the financial markets and result in costs to the government,’ Paulson wrote. ‘These actions should be reserved only for extraordinary circumstances, and should be avoided.’

The letter was sent the same day Treasury said it anticipates issuing 73 bln usd of marketable debt in the July-September quarter, 31 bln usd higher than it anticipated earlier this year. Treasury said this borrowing would leave it with a cash balance of 60 bln usd at the end of this quarter, which analysts say is unusually high.

Treasury also said it anticipates issuing 74 bln usd in new debt in the first quarter of fiscal year 2008.