Donald Trump Finally Shares How He Feels About the Debt Ceiling Deal

The deal to raise the debt ceiling for two years to the tune of $4 trillion while minimally cutting spending passed the House, thanks to the Democratic Party support. More Democrats voted for the compromise than Republicans did, which we all saw coming, given the vocal opposition from the party's conservative wing. Even more damning were the allegations that the $4 trillion increase wasn’t a Democratic Party pitch but Speaker Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) proposal. Yet, even on the Republican side of the aisle, you had staunch conservatives disagreeing.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), one of the most prominent spending hawks, voiced his approval of the legislation, whereas Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) vehemently opposed it. Massie’s stamp of approval was key as it assured passage through the House Rules Committee, which enabled the process of bringing this bill up for a floor vote.

As Spencer wrote, at 314-117, the deal passed. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) voiced his support for the bill. Still, the fact it was passed without majority Republican Party support guarantees a motion to vacate could be considered by House conservatives. If successful, it could take the gavel away from Mr. McCarthy.

Well, have no fear, establishment media, Trump has spoken about the deal, and he's not too pleased with it (via WaPo) [emphasis mine]:
Most Republican presidential candidates are panning the deal negotiated by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to suspend the debt ceiling, including the GOP front-runner, former president Donald Trump, who said he would have allowed the country to default.
“Well, it is what it is, it was going to pass,” Trump told Des Moines 1040 WHO radio host Simon Conway, adding that “we’ll get it fixed and will get it fixed properly in two years.” Asked about his recent CNN town hall comments about letting a default happen, he said, “I would have done that.”
[…]
During the CNN town hall event earlier this month, Trump argued that Republicans should use the deal ceiling as leverage to roll back many of Biden’s spending priorities.
“If they don’t, … you’ll have to default,” Trump said. He suggested the consequences of a default could lead to “a bad week or a bad day.”
During Trump’s presidency, the debt ceiling was raised three times by Congress without any preconditions.
[…]
Until Wednesday, Trump had been publicly silent since the contours of the deal became public Saturday — and had drawn criticism from some GOP presidential rivals for that.

Look, it’s not the best bill by any stretch. We’re also not out of the woods here since it heads to the Democratic-controlled Senate, where progressives aren’t happy with the legislation. Then again, will they torpedo the whole package and deny Joe Biden a legislative win? This isn’t over yet.

"During Trump’s presidency, the debt ceiling was raised three times by Congress without any preconditions. "

During Trump’s presidency, the debt ceiling was raised three times by a Republican-controlled Congress without any preconditions.

That's all one needs to know about it!
The worthless GOP was quick to keep plunging a communist economic dagger into the backs of my descendants, but they couldn't see fit to to preserve the country by building a wall...

Should the Republicans in Congress have held out and allowed the government to be “shut down”? Only if they were willing to hold out as long as they needed to, to get a better deal. But if they simply allowed a shut down, only to ultimately cave later on, they might as well just make the deal now, like they did.

The GOP caucus doesn’t have enough spine to hold strong through a protracted shut down. Even some who opposed this bill would have buckled after a week or two. And the media, as they always do, would have pounded away at the notion that a shut down is unacceptable and that the Republicans were responsible.

“Total weasel move by Trump comment on something after an event he might have influenced when the the debate is over”

From the article...

“During the CNN town hall event earlier this month, Trump argued that Republicans should use the deal ceiling as leverage to roll back many of Biden’s spending priorities.

“If they don’t, … you’ll have to default,” Trump said. He suggested the consequences of a default could lead to “a bad week or a bad day.”

Out in front of other Republicans and the news cycle too.

There may have been one year where we allegedly had a Federal budget "surplus" around 1999-2000. I only remember this because I was at a professional event around that time where my Republican Congressman criticized our state government for employing accounting gimmicks to hide the true cost of major infrastructure spending. He then proudly crowed about how effective he and his associates had been in forcing fiscal responsibility in Washington, to the point where we had a "surplus" for the first time in decades.

After the event was over I had a chance to meet the guy, and I diplomatically told him he was full of sh!t ... because the "surplus" only existing as a result of the biggest accounting gimmick of all: using excess FICA (Social Security) tax revenues to offset revenue shortfalls in the Federal budget. In his own pathetic, simpering way he admitted that I knew what I was talking about.

Good post. I would point out that the whole political scene in Washington has turned upside down in just 20+ years.

The Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010 by a Democratic Congress, and signed into law by Barack Obama. It was scored as "revenue neutral" by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) because it included estimates of $500 billion in Medicare cuts over the next ten years.

The Republicans regained control of the House by an overwhelming margin in 2010 and 2012 by promising to restore those cuts -- which they did.

The U.S. can't balance its budget because the strongest political forces are generally Republican voters. These are Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries, plus major U.S. defense contractors.

Trump got a masters degree from the Wharton School of business at the University of Pennsylvania which I believe is an ivy league school, does that make them equal.

Now that you mention I seem to remember all the Freepers calling her an attention whore when she was press secretary, NOT.....what a bunch of revisionist history.

“The U.S. can’t balance its budget because the strongest political forces are generally Republican voters. These are Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries, plus major U.S. defense contractors.”

Good point The party dynamics have definitely changed from 20 years ago. I suppose the Republican party has supported large government spending for longer than 20 years, but they used to pretend better than they do now and there was still a difference between the spending levels they supported and what the Democrats were in favor of.

Even more dramatic has been the shift of the Democrat party from an anti-war party to a pro-war party, and it’s been surprising how easily Democrat voters have shifted with them. The Republicans still have their pro-war, neo-con wing but more and more the party is embracing a more circumspect attitude towards foreign engagements.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.