(WASHINGTON) -- The fight over whether to raise the debt ceiling, which is already on the fast track, may have to get on a faster track.

An analysis by the Bipartisan Policy Center now predicts that the government won't be able to pay its bills by as soon as Feb. 15.

That's two weeks earlier than originally projected and the White House has warned GOP lawmakers that if the debt ceiling isn't lifted above the $16.4 trillion statutory limit, the government will default on its debt.

Republicans say that any increase will have to be matched with equal spending cuts -- a position President Obama finds untenable.

The Bipartisan Policy Center says that since Dec. 31, when the statutory limit was reached, the Treasury Department has used "extraordinary measures" to postpone default.

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