As a government shutdown approaches, President-elect Donald Trump insists on including provisions in a spending bill that would raise the debt ceiling, which his party has traditionally opposed.
“We will see whether or not we have a closure during the Biden administration,” Trump told CBS. “But if it is going to take place, it is going to take place during Biden, not during Trump.”
President-elect Donald Trump has admitted that he wants Congress to eliminate the debt ceiling under President Joe Biden’s administration. Trump’s calls to eliminate the debt ceiling represent a departure from decades of Republican opposition to raising debt limits.
“Number one, the debt ceiling should be completely eliminated,” Trump told CBS News in a phone interview on Thursday. “Number two, many of the things they expected to receive [in a proposed spending deal] will now be completely eliminated. And let us see what happens.”
“We will see whether or not we have a closure during the Biden administration,” he predicted. “But if it is going to take place, it is going to take place during Biden, not during Trump.”
On the verge of a government shutdown, Trump has put Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson in a pickle after his criticisms prompted Johnson to withdraw a government spending bill that would have provided three months of federal funding to keep the government open.
Republican leaders then introduced a slimmed-down bill that, at Trump’s request, would suspend the debt ceiling for two years, until January 30, 2027. The bill also failed, with 38 Republicans voting ‘no’.
In the final hours before a looming shutdown, Republicans could try to pass another stopgap spending bill that would push other provisions into the holidays, or they could revise the plan to include conservative-friendly provisions such as extending farm and disaster aid while excluding debt-limit measures.
Breaking from party lines
Trump’s insistence on raising and even abolishing the debt ceiling contradicts his party’s longstanding opposition to raising the debt limit due to concerns that it would allow for bloated budgets and increased government spending.
If Congress agrees on a spending plan while Biden is still in office, Trump believes he can avoid blame for the government’s borrowing. Congress agreeing on a spending bill now would also help lighten Trump’s load when he takes office next month, especially as he seeks to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which he passed in 2017 during his first term.
This is not the first time Trump has suggested eliminating the debt ceiling. In 2017, the then-president stated that there are “a lot of good reasons” to abolish the limit. He reached a “gentleman’s agreement” with then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, but nothing came of the initial efforts.
The United States last reached its debt ceiling in January 2023, when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen enacted temporary “extraordinary measures” to prevent the country from defaulting on its debt.
Similarly, if the debt limit is reached on January 1, the Treasury Department will once again invoke those measures, pushing the default deadline into summer 2025, well within Trump’s administration—the situation the president-elect is attempting to prevent.
The most recent major government shutdown occurred under Trump’s watch in 2018, when a 35-day partial shutdown cost $11 billion and cut 0.2% off the United States’ annual growth forecasts, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The shutdown affected approximately 800,000 government workers.
When asked for comment, the Trump-Vance transition team referred Fortune to Trump’s Friday morning Truth Social post: “Congress must repeal or extend the ridiculous Debt Ceiling, possibly until 2029. Without this, we should never reach an agreement. Remember, the pressure is on whoever is President.”