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President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday that Congress should get rid of the debt ceiling, a day after he came out against a deal reached by congressional lawmakers to fund the government before a shutdown occurs.
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 support that entirely.”
“The Democrats have said they want to get rid of it. If they want to get rid of it, I would lead the charge,” Mr. 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 to someday be breached — “a catastrophe, 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 lawmakers set that determines how much the federal government can borrow to pay its bills. It doesn’t authorize any new spending.
On the possibility of a shutdown, which would occur at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday if a funding deal isn’t reached, he said, “If there’s going to be a shutdown, we’re going to start it with a Democratic president” — suggesting that the fight playing out in Congress now is necessary to clear the decks before his administration begins in January.
Asked if he still has confidence in House Speaker Mike Johnson, Mr. Trump responded: “We’ll see. [The funding deal] they had yesterday was unacceptable,” referring to the Speaker’s continuing resolution. “In many ways it was unacceptable. It’s a Democrat trap.”
Trump said he had discussed his views on the short-term funding deal with Elon Musk prior to the X owner’s posts on Wednesday.
“I told him that if he agrees with me, that he could put out a statement.” Mr. Trump said “He’s looking at things from a cost standpoint.” He described their views as in line, and “very much on track.”
In his call Wednesday for Republicans to ditch the negotiated bipartisan short-term spending bill, Trump also demanded that lawmakers increase the debt ceiling — something that hadn’t been on the table at all.
Congress last raised the debt ceiling in June 2023, suspending it through Jan. 1, 2025. Typically, the Treasury Department is able to extend the deadline using so-called extraordinary measures to buy more time for lawmakers to address it.
During Trump’s first term in office, he signed legislation three times to lift the ceilings. He had also floated the idea of eliminating the debt ceiling when he was in the White House.
Some Democrats have voiced support for getting rid of it in recent years.
Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., the ranking member of the Budget Committee, has been leading the charge with legislation called the Debt Ceiling Reform Act that would diminish Congress’s ability to use the threat of default as a tactic in legislative negotiations.
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 elimination” of it — or a reform to largely nullify it, like his bill, which would give the president the power to lift the debt ceiling unless Congress overrides him.
He kept the door open to considering it as part of a government funding bill. “As for including this in the CR, I’d have to consider all of the other issues involved,” Boyle said.
The president-elect appears to be recognizing the legislative traffic jam 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-line bills on immigration and taxes, in addition to confirming his administration personnel through the Senate.
Garrett Haake is NBC News' senior Capitol Hill correspondent. He also covers the Trump campaign.
Rebecca Shabad is a politics reporter for NBC News based in Washington.
Sahil Kapur is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.
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