Donald Trump proposes to completely abolish the debt ceiling

President-elect Donald Trump said he would prefer to see the U.S. debt ceiling completely abolished — not just raised — as congressional Republicans want. dispute over funding bill intensifies on Capitol Hill ahead of government shutdown deadline.

Abolishing the debt ceiling would be “the smartest thing Congress could do.” I would fully support that,” said the the new president told NBC News THURSDAY.

“The Democrats said they wanted to get rid of it. If they want to get rid of it, I will lead the charge. It doesn’t mean anything except psychologically,” Trump, 78, said of the debt ceiling, which controls how much the federal government can borrow to pay its bills.

The proposal quickly gained support from one of Trump’s most vocal rivals in Congress, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

“I agree with President-elect Trump that Congress should end the debt ceiling and never again govern by hostage taking,” Warren said. wrote on X.

Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance sent Congress into a tailspin Wednesday after issuing a statement criticizing the spending bill of more than 1,500 pages that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) had negotiated with Democrats – and demanding that Congress raise the debt ceiling before the end of President Biden’s term.

As of Wednesday evening, the stopgap funding measure was dead and Republicans are trying to find a solution to force another option that would pass the Senate before the federal government’s lights go out at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

“If there’s going to be a shutdown, we’ll start it with a Democratic president,” Trump said of the looming possibility.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told reporters Wednesday evening that his conference was considering raising the debt ceiling.

Johnson, who negotiated with Democrats to try to pass the first funding bill before the deadline, is also facing pressure from some House Republicans to step down from their post. president.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) widely floated the idea. Elon Musk could fill the rolewriting on (not to mention the joy of seeing the collective, aka “one-party” establishment lose its ever-loving spirit). »

Trump also questioned Johnson’s authority over the House after the revolt – although he told Fox News on Thursday that the speaker “stay easily» in power in the next Congress.

“We’ll see. (The funding deal) they reached yesterday was unacceptable,” referring to Johnson’s short-term funding bill. “In many ways, this was unacceptable. It’s a Democratic trap.”

Musk, one of the chairmen of the Department of Government Effectiveness, was the catalyst that ignited the firestorm around the bill on Wednesday, calling on Republicans to “kill” the “fraudulent” bill – and arguing that any member who voted for him would have to leave in two years.

“I told him if he agreed with me, he could issue a statement,” Trump told NBC, saying their views were “absolutely on track” and that the tech billionaire “looked at things from a cost perspective.”