Treasury Department to Auction Federal Reserve Debt

WASHINGTON – The Treasury Department has announced that in an effort to help the Federal Reserve deal with unprecedented borrowing needs resulting from the current credit crisis, it will begin auctioning debt for the central bank.

Treasury officials said that the new program would be part of the normal auctions it conducts to finance the government's budget deficits, which have been soaring because of the current economic slump.

Treasury officials did not provide any immediate details on the amount of debt that it will sell for Treasury or how often such sales will occur.