President-elect Donald Trump says he wants the U.S. debt ceiling to be completely repealed, not just raised, as congressional Republicans battle over funding bill intensifies on Capitol Hill ahead of government shutdown deadline said.
Eliminating the debt ceiling would be the 'smartest thing to do' [Congress] You can do it. I fully support that.” the president-elect told NBC News on Thursday.
“Democrats say they want to get rid of it. If they want to get rid of it, I'll lead the way. It doesn't make any sense except psychologically,” the 78-year-old president said. , talked about a debt ceiling that controls how much the federal government can borrow to pay its bills.
The proposal quickly gained support from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), one of President Trump's most vocal rivals in Congress.
Warren: “I agree with President-elect Trump that Congress will eliminate the debt limit and ensure that we never again rule by hostages.'' I wrote it to X.
President Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance issued a statement Wednesday condemning the more than 1,500-page spending bill negotiated with Democrats by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and calling on Congress to raise the debt. , which threw Congress into chaos. A cap will be set by the end of President Biden's term.
By Wednesday evening, the stopgap funding measure had lost its effectiveness, and Republicans were pushing for a solution to force another option through the Senate before the federal lights went dark at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. I'm trying to figure it out.
President Trump said of the imminent possibility that, “If there's going to be a government shutdown, it's going to start with a Democratic president in office.”
House Minority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) told reporters late Wednesday that his conference was considering raising the debt ceiling.
Johnson negotiated with Democrats to pass the initial funding bill on time, but is also under pressure from some House Republicans to resign as speaker.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) enthusiastically highlighted the possibility that Elon Musk could play that role, writing about X: (Not to mention the joy of watching the collective ruling class, also known as the “Unionist Party,” fall out of love like never before).
Trump also questioned Johnson's authority over the House after the insurrection, even though he told Fox News earlier Thursday that Johnson would “easily remain” in power in the next Congress.
“Let's take a look. [The funding deal] What we saw yesterday was unacceptable,'' he said, referring to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's short-term funding bill. “In many ways, that was unacceptable. It's a Democratic trap.”
Musk, who chairs the Department of Government Efficiency, called on Republicans to “repeal” the “fraudulent” bill, insisting that whoever voted for the bill This was the trigger that caused a huge uproar. It should be out within two years.
President Trump told NBC: “I told them they could make a statement if they agreed with me,'' adding that their views were “pretty on track,'' and that the tech billionaire said “from a cost standpoint… We are considering things.”
