Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R.S.D.) said Thursday that he will add debt limit repeal language to the year-end spending bill so that President-elect Trump does not have to deal with the debt limit after the presidential election. The proposal was not accepted. He was appointed in January.
President Trump's decision to oppose the proposed spending bill has led to chaos in the House and Senate, raising the possibility of a government shutdown.
“At some point we're going to have to deal with it, and it's coming. I welcome suggestions on how to deal with it,” Thun told reporters when asked if he supported lifting the debt limit. answered.
President Trump said in an interview with NBC News that lifting the debt limit is “the smartest thing to do.” [Congress] You can do it. ”
“I fully support it,” he said.
President Trump noted that Democrats have previously called for lifting the debt ceiling.
“If they want to eliminate it, I will lead the charge,” Trump said.
Thune said he supports Congress taking action on the debt limit sooner rather than later to avoid a potential crisis next year, but he is not yet ready to jump to repealing the measure, which would be a brake on federal spending. He said he has not done so.
“I don’t know if I heard that,” Thune said when asked about President Trump’s call to lift the debt ceiling, even though the story was reported just hours earlier.
“We know there are a lot of different theories about how to deal with the future debt ceiling,” he said. “If it were effective, we wouldn't be left with $35 trillion in debt. So while the meaning of fat caps in modern society is limited in every sense of the word, it's something the market is clearly paying attention to.
“In terms of how we're going to deal with it, we don't know exactly what that's going to look like at this point,” Thun added.
President Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance rocked the Capitol on Wednesday, calling on lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling as part of a short-term government financing plan.
Senate Democrats Dick Durbin (Ill.) and Rep. Brendan Doyle (D-Pennsylvania) last year proposed the Debt Ceiling Reform Act, which would give the Treasury the power to continue paying the federal debt unless Congress passes a resolution of disapproval. introduced.
