President-elect Donald Trump said the “smartest thing” for Congress to do would be to get rid of the debt ceiling. Trump made his comments as a potential government shutdown looms ahead of Christmas.
The debt ceiling is how much money the American government can borrow to pay for programs it has authorized. Currently, federal debt is at around $36 trillion. Conservatives are typically reluctant to raise the debt ceiling because they believe it leads to excessive spending. Several Republicans say no to raising the debt ceiling because they don’t think Congress is serious about wanting to make cuts to spending.
The House rejected a plan on Thursday that would have averted the shutdown, which is set to begin Friday at midnight.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said early Friday that leaders are working hard to meet the deadline.
“Right-wing lawmakers balked at increasing the government’s borrowing limit, something many of them have long pledged not to do without spending cuts to keep the debt from ballooning further,” The New York Times reported. Almost every Democrat voted no to the proposed deal and 38 Republicans joined in the no vote.
Utah Reps. John Curtis and Blake Moore voted against the deal to suspending the limits. Trump had backed the measure — earlier this week, a bipartisan deal was dropped after Trump and Elon Musk had spoken out against it.
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance issued a statement Wednesday, saying “the 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.”
The future leaders of the country said the spending bill considered by Congress would “give sweetheart provisions for government censors” and increase the pay of Congressional members while Americans are experiencing financial struggles during Christmas.
While Wednesday’s statement from Trump and Vance said raising the debt ceiling is not ideal, they would rather do it while President Joe Biden is in office.
“Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH,” said Trump and Vance. “If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF. It is Schumer and Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief.”
This isn’t the first time Trump has proposed getting rid of the debt ceiling. During his first presidency, he told reporters he thought there were good reasons to get rid of the debt ceiling.
Musk, who is heading the Department of Government Efficiency, also spoke out about the measure. In a post on X, Musk said, “Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years.”
While Trump has been saying he wants to get rid of or extend the debt ceiling, he also ran on cutting government waste and spending — that’s what he has tasked Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy with figuring out how to do. Eliminating the debt ceiling would mean the U.S. government wouldn’t have a cap on how much money they have to borrow — but the debt ceiling itself isn’t authorizing new spending.
Congress ultimately has the power to determine how much new spending there is.
According to The Hill, raising the debt ceiling “would clear the deck for potentially trillions of dollars in tax cuts that Republicans have been eager to cement.”
Why we do we care about the debt ceiling?
- The debt ceiling is how much money the government can borrow to pay for spending that Congress has already authorized. It’s unlikely to happen, according to Michael Strain, but it’s possible that without raising the debt ceiling or eliminating it, the U.S. could default on its financial obligations.
- If Congress doesn’t pass a spending bill, then the government will shut down. This shutdown affects things like government services and national parks.
- In order to lower the national debt, Congress needs to pass bills cutting spending. The debt ceiling isn’t the primary mechanism to lower the national debt.