BURSTSen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Thursday supported President-elect Trump’s pressure on lawmakers to eliminate the debt ceiling.
“I agree with President-elect Trump that Congress should terminate the debt limit and never again govern by hostage taking,” Warren said in a post on social platform X.
Trump said Thursday that he would back getting rid of the debt ceiling, moving the issue into the middle of government spending discussions as a shutdown deadline looms. The president-elect said to NBC News that the “smartest thing” lawmakers could do is to abolish 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,” Trump told NBC News.
The debt ceiling, which restricts the amount the federal government can borrow to pay existing expenses, “doesn’t mean anything, except psychologically,” Trump said.
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance urged Republicans on Wednesday to approve a clean stopgap bill alongside raising the debt ceiling, saying that a different government funding deal negotiated by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) should be shot down.
On both sides of the political aisle, lawmakers were caught off guard by Trump and Vance’s urging about the debt ceiling.
“This has come as a surprise to me,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) previously said at the Capitol. “I was surprised that [Trump] wants to move the debt limit vote up to this year.
“I don’t know his rationale,” she added.