President-elect Donald Trump expressed his support on Thursday for eliminating the debt ceiling entirely, describing it as the “smartest thing” Congress could do during an interview with NBC News.
Trump’s comments came one day after he and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance issued a joint statement urging Congress to raise the debt ceiling. They simultaneously criticized an earlier version of a temporary funding bill, which was initially backed but later abandoned by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
In the Thursday morning interview with NBC News, Trump made his position clear, stating he would “entirely” back the complete removal of the debt ceiling.
“The Democrats have said they want to get rid of it. If they want to get rid of it, I would lead the charge,” Trump said. He elaborated, saying, “It doesn’t mean anything, except psychologically.”
The debt ceiling sets a cap on the amount of money the federal government can borrow to fulfill its financial obligations. The limit was last addressed in June 2023, when Congress suspended it through January 1, 2025.
On Wednesday, Trump and Vance called for the inclusion of a debt ceiling increase in the revised Continuing Resolution (CR) needed to maintain government operations.
“Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch. If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate now. And we should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want,” their statement read.
Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., the ranking member on the Budget Committee, emphasized that House Democrats should only consider voting to raise the debt ceiling if it results in its permanent abolition or a legislative move to nullify it entirely.
Trump criticized Johnson for advancing a CR loaded with new spending, which he referred to as a “Democrat trap.” Speaking to NBC News, he said, “we’ll see” about his continued confidence in Johnson’s leadership.
Despite his critique, Trump told Fox News on Thursday that Johnson’s position as speaker remains secure as long as he “acts decisively and tough and gets rid of all the traps being set by Democrats.”
The current deadline to pass a clean CR and prevent a partial government shutdown is set for Motzoei Shabbos at 12:01 a.m. ET.
On Wednesday night, Vance met with Johnson for approximately an hour to discuss the CR. According to Fox News, Vance expressed optimism, stating that Republicans would be able to “solve problems here.”
{Matzav.com}
It would be an absolute disaster! There would be zero brakes on government spending anymore. In simple English if something can’t go on forever it won’t. Therefore there is no way the government deficit can just keep on ballooning without there coming a time when disaster strikes. You simply can not owe and pay interest on more money than there is in existence. If the debt ceiling is eliminated that day will come even sooner
The Debt Ceiling is Federal Reserve. When the Federal Reserve and Central Banks will be abolished, the debt will be eliminated.