Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has announced that the department will begin taking special accounting measures to avoid breaching the US debt limit. She has urged lawmakers to boost the ceiling to avert a devastating payments default.

Some taxpayers received their 2021 stimulus checks automatically, while others got the money as a recovery rebate credit of $1,400 per person on their 2021 income tax return. For a family of four, that could have meant a $5,600 credit on their 2021 taxes that won't be on this year's return.

As the fight over who will become the next House of Representatives speaker drags on, investors are growing increasingly concerned that lawmakers will not be able to agree on a plan to avoid breaching the US government's statutory borrowing limit this year.