President-elect Donald Trump sits in the Oval Office during a November meeting with President Joe Biden. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
President-elect Donald Trump has stunned lawmakers in Washington by calling for the suspension — or outright elimination — of the federal borrowing limit, introducing an explosive new demand into last-minute negotiations over averting a government shutdown this weekend.
In social media posts and interviews on Wednesday and Thursday, Trump called on congressional Republicans to lift the debt ceiling, a law that limits how much money the federal government can borrow.
The cap is currently suspended until Jan. 1, 2025, under a bipartisan deal struck last year. The Treasury Department can use what it calls “extraordinary measures” to finance new expenditures without borrowing beyond the limit. That would probably cover the government until May or June, though nobody can say for sure. Failure to raise the debt ceiling after that would result in a default of government debt, which would throw the U.S. and global economies into chaos.
In an interview with Fox News Digital on Thursday, Trump threatened primaries against Republican lawmakers who refuse to cooperate with repeal of the debt limit.
“Anybody that supports a bill that doesn’t take care of the Democrat quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be primaried and disposed of as quickly as possible,” Trump said.
Trump even went as far as pushing for the permanent repeal of the national borrowing limit. Democrats have long called for abolishing the cap, saying Republicans have used the limit as a weapon to force them to agree to spending cuts. Republicans have traditionally supported keeping the debt limit in place as a check on federal borrowing, although the limit bans borrowing, not spending. The government typically borrows to pay for spending that Congress and the White House have already enacted into law.
On Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump said of the government spending deal: “Can anyone imagine passing it without either terminating, or extending, the Debt Ceiling guillotine coming up in June?”
Trump later told NBC News of the debt limit: “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 getting rid of the debt ceiling entirely would be “the smartest thing” Congress could do.
The national debt now sits at about $36 trillion. The limit was last suspended in May 2023, but it has been raised or suspended under presidents of both parties, including three times in Trump’s first term.
Trump’s sudden attack on the debt limit surprised many aides and lawmakers of both parties, who said they were unaware that Trump wanted it to be dealt with in government funding deliberations. On Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was forced to pull a spending bill under immense pressure from Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, a close Trump adviser who panned the legislation as full of measures unrelated to keeping the government funded.
Trump’s call was also unusual because the Treasury Department should have plenty of time before the debt limit becomes a problem. Lawmakers are now running out of time to avert a government shutdown, but Democrats are expressing cautious optimism about getting rid of the debt limit following Trump’s call.
“This was on no one’s radar,” said one senior congressional aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity to reflect private deliberations. The aide said he was unaware of the debt ceiling demand being part of discussions over government funding between Johnson and Democratic leadership.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a top GOP appropriator, also told reporters that Trump’s call to eliminate the debt limit “has come as a surprise to me,” according to the Hill newspaper.
In an interview earlier this week before Trump’s position became public, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said he was having preliminary conversations with Senate Republicans about repealing the debt limit, which he said “puts the whole American economy in danger.”
“The debt limit does not save anybody a penny. … It’s just used as a way to create uncertainty and chaos,” Schatz said. “Republicans have an opportunity to defuse a bomb here, and we’re willing to do it as long as it’s permanently defused.”
