Trump calls for abolishing the debt ceiling

President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday that Congress should get rid of the debt ceiling, a day after he came out against a deal struck by congressional lawmakers to fund the government before a shutdown occurs.

In a telephone interview with NBC News, Trump said it would be “the smartest thing it (Congress) could do is to get rid of the debt ceiling entirely. I would fully support that.”

“The Democrats have said they want to get rid of it. If they want to get rid of it, I would lead the charge,” added Mr. Trump.

Trump suggested that the debt ceiling is a meaningless concept — and that no one knows for sure what would happen if it were ever breached — “a disaster or senseless” — and no one should want to find out.

“It doesn’t matter, except psychologically,” he said.

The debt ceiling is the limit lawmakers set that determines how much the federal government can borrow to pay its bills. It does not allow new expenses.

About the possibility of a shutdown, which would take place at At 12:01 a.m. Saturday, if a funding deal isn’t reached, he said, “If there’s going to be a shutdown, we’re going to start it with a Democratic president.” — suggesting the battle unfolding in Congress now is necessary to clear the decks before his administration begins in January.

Asked if he still had confidence in House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Trump said: “We’ll see. (The funding deal they had yesterday) was unacceptable,” referring to the speaker’s continued decision. “In many ways, it’s unacceptable. It’s a democrat trap.”

Trump said he had discussed his views on the short-term financing deal with Elon Musk ahead of the X owner’s posts on Wednesday.

“I told him that if he agrees with me that he could issue a statement,” Trump said. “He looks at things from a cost standpoint.” He described their views as aligned and “very much on track.”

In his call Wednesday for Republicans to drop the negotiated bipartisan short-term spending bill, Trump also demanded that lawmakers raise the debt ceiling — something that had not been on the table at all.

Congress last raised the debt ceiling in June 2023 and suspended it until Jan. 1, 2025. Typically, the Treasury Department is able to extend the deadline by using so-called extraordinary measures to buy more time for lawmakers to fix it.

Before lawmakers passed the latest increase, the White House released one St-onetement warning of the consequences of failing to repeal it and default on the nation’s debt, saying a default would “likely cause serious damage to the U.S. economy.” The statement said analysis by the Council of Economic Advisers and outside researchers showed that if the government defaults on its obligations, “the economy would quickly shift into reverse, with the depth of the losses a function of how long the breach lasted.”

During Trump’s first term in office, he signed the law three times to raise the ceilings. He had that too floated the idea of ​​removing the debt ceiling when he was in the White House.

Some Democrats have voiced support for getting rid of it in recent years.

Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., the ranking member of the Budget Committee, has led the charge with legislation called Act on reform of the debt ceiling it would diminish Congress’s ability to use the threat of default as a tactic in legislative negotiations. He introduced it in 2023 with Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.that unveiled a companion bill in the Senate.

The House bill has 55 co-sponsors, all Democrats, including former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Boyle told NBC News that “the only way” House Democrats should “vote to raise the debt ceiling under Trump is if we have a permanent elimination” of it — or reform to basically cancel it, like his bill that would give the president the power to raise the debt ceiling unless Congress overrides him.

He kept the door open to considering it as part of a state aid bill. “In terms of including this in the CR, I would have to consider all the other issues involved,” Boyle said.

The president-elect appears to acknowledge the legislative traffic jam that awaits him in the first year of his second term: another round of government bailouts, an increase in the debt limit and plans to advance major bipartisan immigration and tax bills. to confirm his administration staff through the Senate.