The U.S. Treasury said it expects to pay off debt in the second quarter in the first such action in six years.

Congress' payroll tax cut expired in January, leaving the Treasury with about $35 billion in additional revenue during the April-to-June period. This quarterly payoff will reverse a projection in February, when Treasury expected that it would have to borrow $103 billion during the period.

The payoff "is emblematic of the turn in budget finances from horrible to grim on their way to steadily better," Eric Green, global head of rates and foreign-exchange research at TD Securities, said.