Lawmakers on both sides of the ballot appeared surprised by President-elect Trump on Wednesday called for an enhance in the debt ceiling be paired with a stopgap state funding bill and reject a comprehensive bipartisan plan to avert a government shutdown this week.
Trump said in one joint statement With Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, he said that while the party wants disaster relief and support for farmers – issues addressed in the ephemeral funding plan – he wants Congress to pass a “streamlined spending bill” that doesn’t give Democrats ” everything they want.” want” and calls for “an increase in the debt ceiling”.
“The stupidest, most clumsy thing Republicans in Congress ever did was allow our country to hit the debt ceiling in 2025. This was a mistake and must now be addressed,” the statement said.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said she was “surprised” by the request.
“That surprised me,” she told reporters at the Capitol. “That surprised me [Trump] wants to postpone the vote on the debt limit until this year.
“I don’t know his motives,” she added.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said he had “no problem with it,” but added, “I just don’t know why Sen. Schumer would accept it.”
“It looks like June [for the debt ceiling]and so you are not under the pressure of an impending default to get people [to raise it]” he said.
Representative Dave Schweikert (Republican of Arizona) told reporters on Wednesday that he believes the debt limit should not be part of the current funding discussion.
“Stressors are almost the only times we do difficult things. “Stressors are the way we built the sequestration, the way we did a lot of these things,” he said, also telling reporters on the subject: “Without the stressor, how do you convince the markets that you have a part who takes debt seriously?”
“If you just walk away and say. “All we’re doing is raising the debt ceiling, in a sense you’re paying a penalty in the future through higher interest rates,” he said. “There are no free options anymore.”
And in one Post on XSen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), accused Trump of wanting Democrats to “agree to raise the debt ceiling so he can easily pass his massive tax cut for corporations and billionaires.”
“Short version: cut taxes for billionaires or the government shuts down for Christmas,” he added.
The debt ceiling limits how much money the Treasury can owe to pay the country’s bills. The national debt is currently more than $36 trillion.
Under a previous bipartisan plan passed by Congress last year to address the debt ceiling, both sides agreed to suspend the debt ceiling until 2024, handing the task of further action on the ceiling to the candidate who won the presidential election.
While the debt ceiling is only suspended until the end of the year, the Treasury Department could previously take what it called “extraordinary measures” to prevent the country from defaulting on its debts, giving Washington time to reach an agreement on how to address the debt ceiling.
A recent estimate from the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) has caused a stir earlier this week that the so-called “X date” by which such measures could be exhausted next year will be “as early as June 2025 and at the latest before the break in August 2025”.
Some Republicans on Wednesday signaled openness to the idea of including a debt ceiling enhance in the bill.
“I don’t like dealing with the debt ceiling, but I don’t want it to be used as a tool against President Trump,” said Senator Ted Budd (R-N.C.) on Wednesday.
It is not yet clear how Democrats will respond to Trump’s proposal, although the party no longer in power – which would be the Democrats in 2025 – often demands major concessions in return for agreeing to raise the debt limit.
Last year, Democrats insisted for months on a “clean” enhance in the debt limit without surcharges and accused Republicans of playing with the threat of national bankruptcy. The disordered showdown ultimately led to a suspension of the debt ceiling and an agreement on caps on annual federal spending – but not without it Credit rating downgrade from one of the “Big Three” rating agencies.
Some Democrats are hesitant to take a stand for now.
“I don’t believe in negotiating with yourself. I mean, now the ball is in the House,” Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden (R-Ore.) said before expressing support for the bipartisan funding plan passed this week to provide a government shutdown ahead of the execution on Friday to prevent deadline.
Congress came to a standstill Wednesday afternoon as Trump spoke out against the plan, just as lawmakers were preparing to implement the sweeping package to keep the government open through mid-March, along with a series of additional benefits provided by disaster relief after hurricanes Helene and Milton, economic aid for farmers and health care.
“The health care package is very important to me,” Wyden said instead. “I’ve spent hours and hours, months and months…The president-elect has talked about being fiscally responsible. Our package puts money into the coffers of Medicare, taxpayers and seniors and certainly fits the bill.”
Al Weaver contributed.
