Republican leaders to meet on U.S. debt ceiling on Monday

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican aides in the House of Representatives told Reuters that Republican leaders will convene later on Monday on how to deal with the looming deadline on raising the federal borrowing limit so the government would not have to delay its debt payments. The Treasury Department has repeatedly warned Congress will run out of cash to pay its debt obligation, federal payrolls and retirement benefits by the end of February. The Republican meeting raised hopes a longer-term deal to increase on the debt ceiling, currently at $16.7 trillion, might be made before the deadline. The interest rate on one-month T-bills retreated on news of the meeting, as holders of the bills had become anxious about the debt ceiling in recent days. The one-month bill rate was last at 0.070 percent, down nearly 3 basis points from late on Friday. It rose to slightly above 0.100 percent earlier. (Reporting by David Lawder in Washington and by Richard Leong in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)