President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday that Congress should get rid of the debt ceiling, a day after speaking out against a deal reached by congressional lawmakers to fund the government before a default occurs. closure
In a phone interview with NBC News, Trump said getting rid of the debt ceiling entirely would be “the smartest thing [Congress] could do I would fully support it.”
“Democrats have said they want to get rid of it. If they want to get rid of it, I would lead the charge,” Trump added.
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 — “catastrophic or meaningless” — and no one should want to find out.
“It doesn’t mean anything, except psychologically,” he said.
The debt ceiling is the limit set by lawmakers that determines how much the federal government can borrow to pay its bills. It does not authorize any new expenditure.
On the possibility of a shutdown, which would occur at 12:01 a.m. Saturday if a funding deal is not reached, he said: “If there is going to be a shutdown, we will start it with a Democratic president.” suggesting that the fight now underway in Congress is needed 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] that they had yesterday was unacceptable”, referring to the continuing resolution of the speaker. “In many ways, it was unacceptable. It’s a Democrat trap.”
Trump said he had discussed his views on the short-term financing deal with Elon Musk before Owner X’s posts on Wednesday.
“I told him if he agreed with me, he could make a statement,” Trump said. “He’s looking at things from a cost perspective.” He described his views as online and “very on track.”
In his call on Wednesday for Republicans to abandon 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, suspending it until January 1, 2025. Normally, the Treasury Department can extend the deadline through so-called emergency measures to buy more time for the legislators to address it.
Before lawmakers approved the latest increase, the White House released a statement warning of the consequences of not lifting it and defaulting on the nation’s debt, saying a default would “likely cause serious damage to the American economy “. The statement said analyzes by the Council of Economic Advisers and outside researchers showed that if the government defaulted on its obligations, “the economy would rapidly reverse course, with the depth of the losses depending on how long it lasted the breach”.
During Trump’s first term, he signed legislation to raise the ceilings three times. He had also floated the idea of eliminating the debt ceiling when he was in the White House.
Some Democrats have expressed 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 the Debt Ceiling Reform Act that would diminish Congress’ ability to use the threat of default as a tactic in legislative negotiations. He introduced it in 2023 with Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who introduced a companion bill in the Senate.
The House bill has 55 co-sponsors, all Democrats, including former House Speaker 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 write-off” or reform to repeal it wholesale measure, like his bill, which would give the president. the power to raise the debt ceiling unless Congress overrides it.
He kept the door open to considering it as part of a government funding bill. “In terms of including this in the CR, I would have to consider all the other issues involved,” Boyle said.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, also posted on social media Thursday morning that she agreed with Trump’s call to abolish the debt ceiling.
“I agree with President-elect Trump that Congress should end the debt limit and never again govern by taking hostages,” he wrote.
The president-elect appears to acknowledge the legislative gridlock that awaits him in the first year of his second term: another round of government funding, a debt limit hike and plans to advance major party bills on immigration and taxes, in addition to confirming its administration staff through the Senate.