‘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.
President-elect Donald Trump said that “the smartest thing” that Congress could do is abolish the debt ceiling, one day after opposing a deal to fund the federal government before a shutdown.
In a phone interview with NBC News on Dec. 19, Trump suggested that the debt ceiling is meaningless, adding that he would support efforts to abolish it altogether.
“The Democrats have said they want to get rid of it. If they want to get rid of it, I would lead the charge,” he said.
The debt ceiling “doesn’t mean anything, except psychologically,” Trump added.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) endorsed Trump’s proposal.
“I agree with President-elect Trump that Congress should terminate the debt limit and never again govern by hostage taking,” Warren said on social media platform X.
For nearly a century, the debt ceiling has been used as the maximum amount that lawmakers can borrow to meet existing obligations such as Social Security, Medicare, and interest payments. While the debt ceiling functions as a check on government borrowing and spending—and a tool for political maneuvering—raising the debt ceiling does not authorize new spending.
In May 2023, President Joe Biden and then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) raised the debt ceiling and suspended it until Jan. 1, 2025. The Treasury Department can extend the deadline by employing extraordinary measures, such as suspending reinvestments in federal employee retirement funds, postponing rollovers in maturing securities, and using cash in the general account at the Federal Reserve.
During the previous round of negotiations last year, Trump urged Republican lawmakers to let the United States default on its debt if Democrats disagree with spending cuts.
Speaking at a CNN town hall in New Hampshire in May 2023, Trump told host Kaitlan Collins that the United States likely would not default because “the Democrats will absolutely cave.”
“But it’s better than what we’re doing right now because we’re spending money like drunken sailors,” he said.
Congress will have until 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 21 to avert a shutdown.
By Andrew Moran
