{"id":36086,"date":"2024-12-18T23:50:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T05:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=36086"},"modified":"2024-12-19T01:49:00","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T07:49:00","slug":"lawmakers-caught-off-guard-by-trump-debt-ceiling-demand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=36086","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers caught off guard by Trump debt ceiling demand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle appeared caught off guard on Wednesday as President-elect Trump demanded that a debt ceiling hike<\/u><\/a> be paired with a stopgap government funding bill, rejecting a sweeping bipartisan plan to avert a government shutdown this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump said in a joint statement<\/u><\/a> with Vice President-elect J.D. Vance said that while the party wants disaster aid and support for farmers \u2014 issues that are tackled in the temporary funding plan \u2014 he wants Congress to pass a \u201cstreamlined spending bill\u201d that doesn\u2019t give Democrats \u201ceverything they want\u201d and has \u201can increase in the debt ceiling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe most foolish and inept thing ever done by Congressional Republicans was allowing our country to hit the debt ceiling in 2025. It was a mistake and is now something that must be addressed,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said she was \u201csurprised\u201d by the demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis has come as a surprise to me,\u201d she told reporters at the Capitol. \u201cI was surprised that [Trump] wants to move the debt limit vote up to this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know his rationale,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Thom Tillis\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R-N.C.) said he has \u201cno problem with doing it,\u201d but added, \u201cI just don\u2019t know why Sen. Schumer would accept it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt looks like June [for the debt ceiling], and so you don\u2019t have the pressure of an impending default to get people [to raise it],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Dave Schweikert\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R-Ariz.) told reporters on Wednesday that he doesn\u2019t think the debt limit should be part of the current funding discussion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStressors are almost the only moments we do difficult things. Stressors are how we built sequestration, how we did do many of these things,\u201d he said, while also telling reporters on the matter, \u201cwithout the stressor, how do you convince markets that you\u2019re taking some of the debt seriously?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you just walk away and say. We\u2019re just raising the debt ceiling, in some ways, you pay a penalty by higher interest rates into the future,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no more free options anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in a post on X<\/u><\/a>, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) accused Trump of wanting Democrats \u201cto agree to raise the debt ceiling so he can pass his massive corporate and billionaire tax cut without a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShorter version: tax cut for billionaires or the government shuts down for Christmas,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The debt ceiling puts a limit on how much money the Treasury can owe to cover the country\u2019s bills. The national debt currently stands at more than $36 trillion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under a previous bipartisan plan passed by Congress to address the debt limit last year, both sides agreed to suspend the debt ceiling through 2024, kicking the task of further action on the cap to whichever candidate won the presidential election. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the debt limit is only suspended through the end of the year, the Treasury Department has previously been able to take what it refers to as \u201cextraordinary measures\u201d to prevent the nation from defaulting on its debt to buy time for Washington to strike a deal on how to address the debt ceiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent estimate by the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) has gotten some attention earlier this week\u2002<\/u><\/a>that the so-called \u201cX-Date\u201d when such measures could exhaust next year will be \u201cas early as June 2025 and before the August 2025 recess at the latest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Republicans on Wednesday signaled openness to the idea of including a debt ceiling increase in the bill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like dealing with the debt ceiling, but I don\u2019t want it to be used as a tool against President Trump,\u201d Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) also said on Wednesday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not yet clear how Democrats will respond to Trump\u2019s proposal, though the party out of power \u2014 which Democrats would be in 2025 \u2014 often demands major concessions in return for agreeing to raise the debt limit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, Democrats insisted for months on a \u201cclean\u201d debt limit increase without add-ons and charged Republicans with playing with the threat of a national default. The messy showdown eventually resulted in a debt limit suspension along with a deal for caps on annual federal spending \u2013 but not without a credit downgrade<\/u><\/a> from one of the \u201cBig Three\u201d credit rating agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Democrats are holding off on taking a stance, for now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe in negotiating with yourself. I mean, we\u2019re now with the ball in the House\u2019s court,\u201d Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (R-Ore.) said, before expressing support for the bipartisan funding plan struck this week to prevent a government shutdown ahead of the hanging Friday deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congress came to a halt on Wednesday afternoon as Trump came out in opposition to the plan, just as lawmakers prepared to act on the sweeping package to keep the government open through mid-March, along with a host of add-ons ranging from disaster aid following hurricanes Helene and Milton, economic assistance for farmers, and healthcare provisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cI feel very strongly about the health package,\u201d Wyden instead said. \u201cI spent hours and hours, months and months \u2026 The president-elect has talked about being fiscally responsible. Our package gets money in the coffers of Medicare and taxpayers and seniors, and sure fits his bill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

thehill<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle appeared caught off guard on Wednesday as President-elect Trump demanded that a debt ceiling hike be paired with a stopgap government funding bill, rejecting a sweeping bipartisan plan to avert a government shutdown this week. Trump said in a joint statement with Vice President-elect J.D. Vance said that while the party wants […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":36087,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1235,1596,1230],"class_list":["post-36086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-debt","tag-lawmakers","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36086"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36088,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36086\/revisions\/36088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}