Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) dismissed President-elect Trump’s demand to extend the debt ceiling, saying he was a “hard pass” on the thought.
“GOP extremists want House Democrats to raise the debt ceiling so that House Republicans can lower the amount of your Social Security check,” Jeffries posted to Bluesky. “Hard pass.”
On Wednesday, Trump stated any Republican lawmaker who backed a seamless decision plan that didn’t embody a rise to the debt restrict ought to face a main problem.
The declare positioned the debt ceiling difficulty on the heart of efforts to fund the federal government as Congress battles to maintain the lights on earlier than a vacation recess.
Lawmakers on either side of the aisle gave the impression to be caught off guard after Trump’s demand, which rejected the bipartisan plan to avert the federal government shutdown.
The debt ceiling places a restrict on how a lot cash the Treasury can owe to cowl the federal government’s payments. The nation’s debt at the moment is at greater than $36 trillion.
Jeffries’ fellow Democrat, Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.), accused Trump of wanting Democrats to agree to lift the debt ceiling “so he can pass his massive corporate and billionaire tax cut without a problem.”
Nonetheless, one other Democratic Senator disagrees. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) posted on-line in settlement with Trump, noting that the debt ceiling needs to be terminated and Congress ought to “never again govern by hostage taking.”
A earlier bipartisan plan handed by Congress final yr agreed to droop the debt ceiling via 2024, primarily delaying additional motion on a ceiling to whichever candidate received this yr’s presidential election.
Some Republican lawmakers expressed shock at Trump’s name, but in addition signaled they weren’t solely against it.
Trump’s demand stopped Congress in its tracks because it barreled towards the funding deadline and lawmakers had been poised to behave on the sweeping funding package deal.
