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debt limit
Looming Government Shutdown a 'Terrifying Preview' of Trump and DOGE
"Nothing like a couple billionaires wreaking havoc on working families right before the holidays," said Rep. Mark Pocan.
Dec 18, 2024
U.S. President Trump and his allies, including billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, are blowing up bipartisan efforts to prevent a government shutdown that could begin this weekend with statements opposing a proposed stopgap measure.
"Currently reading the 1,547-page bill to fund the government through mid-March. Expecting every U.S. congressman and senator to do the same," Ramaswamy posted on Musk's social media platform X late Tuesday. Trump has asked the two billionaires to co-lead the forthcoming Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which they have said will pursue massive cuts to federal regulations and spending.
Musk responded to Ramaswamy early Wednesday, asserting that "this bill should not pass," a sentiment he repeated in several posts throughout the day, as the clock ticked closer to the Friday night deadline set by September legislation.
Ramaswamy also came out against the continuing resolution (CR) Wednesday morning, declaring that a "debt-fueled spending sprees may 'feel good' today, but it's like showering cocaine on an addict." He blasted various provisions, including $100 billion in disaster relief needed after hurricanes as well as funding to renew the Farm Bill for a year, replace the Francis Scott Key Bridge, and raise federal lawmakers' pay.
Donald Trump Jr. then weighed in, taking issue with a provision about subpoenas for U.S. House of Representatives data.
Appearing on "Fox & Friends" Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said that he was on a text message thread with Ramaswamy and Musk, claimed that "they understand the situation," and suggested he convinced them that the CR must pass.
However, later Wednesday, the president-elect and Vice President-elect JD Vance—who still represents Ohio in the Senate—released a lengthy statement opposing the CR and calling out specific policies, including the subpoena provision and the pay hike for lawmakers.
Trump and Vance—who are set to take over for Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris next month—also argued that "the most foolish and inept thing ever done by congressional Republicans was allowing our country to hit the debt ceiling in 2025. It was a mistake and is now something that must be addressed."
"Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we'd rather do it on Biden's watch," the incoming Republican leaders said. "If Democrats won't cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration?"
"Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025," they claimed. "The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country."
Trump echoed that point in a series of posts on his platform Truth Social, saying that "if Republicans try to pass a clean Continuing Resolution without all of the Democrat 'bells and whistles' that will be so destructive to our Country, all it will do, after January 20th, is bring the mess of the Debt Limit into the Trump Administration, rather than allowing it to take place in the Biden Administration."
"Any Republican that would be so stupid as to do this should, and will, be Primaried," Trump added. "Everything should be done, and fully negotiated, prior to my taking Office on January 20th, 2025."
Citing unnamed sources familiar with Johnson's thinking, outlets including The Hill and Politico reported Wednesday that the House speaker is now considering trying to pass a "clean" CR that would cut provisions such as disaster aid and economic assistance for farmers.
According toPolitico, "As GOP members streamed into Johnson's office to pick up gifts and stop by an ironically timed Christmas party, they didn't voice enthusiasm for Trump's demands."
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a Wednesday statement that "Republicans need to stop playing politics with this bipartisan agreement or they will hurt hardworking Americans and create instability across the country."
"President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Vance ordered Republicans to shut down the government and they are threatening to do just that—while undermining communities recovering from disasters, farmers and ranchers, and community health centers," she continued. "Triggering a damaging government shutdown would hurt families who are gathering to meet with their loved ones and endanger the basic services Americans from veterans to Social Security recipients rely on. A deal is a deal. Republicans should keep their word."
Progressive leaders in Congress suggested that Trump's eleventh-hour statements on the CR were guided by his billionaire allies.
"Democrats and Republicans spent months negotiating a bipartisan agreement to fund our government," noted Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). "The richest man on Earth, President Elon Musk, doesn't like it. Will Republicans kiss the ring? Billionaires must not be allowed to run our government."
Also taking aim at Musk, Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.) said that "an unelected billionaire was crowned co-president by the Republican Party. They've given him the influence to make a damn post that throws a spending bill into limbo cause House Republicans are scared of him. No greater example of oligarchy. Where the ultrawealthy run the show."
Outgoing Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) accused House Republicans of "bowing to Elon Musk and pushing us toward a shutdown," which would force active duty service members to work without pay, pause rent and food assistance, and cancel and delay flights right before major holidays.
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) quipped: "'President-elect' Elon Musk and former President Donald Trump want to shut down the government. Nothing like a couple billionaires wreaking havoc on working families right before the holidays."
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the watchdog Public Citizen, similarly said that "an unelected billionaire should not be allowed to shut down the government. Musk's temper tantrum this afternoon—and the speed at which Trump fell in line after being cornered—is a terrifying preview of what a Trump-Musk co-presidency will look like."
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) was also critical, saying: "House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government. And hurt the working-class Americans they claim to support. You break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow."
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) tied the anti-CR push to Republicans' ambitions to pass another round of tax cuts for the superrich.
"Remember what this is all about: Trump wants Democrats to agree to raise the debt ceiling so he can pass his massive corporate and billionaire tax cut without a problem," he said. "Shorter version: tax cut for billionaires or the government shuts down for Christmas."
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Watchdog Slams Biden DOJ's Push to Preserve Debt Ceiling as Another Crisis Looms
"Why is the Biden administration trying to rob itself of a clear opportunity to protect American workers and the economy from being roiled by MAGA saboteurs?" asked the head of the Revolving Door Project.
Aug 10, 2023
A government watchdog on Thursday called out the Biden administration for attempting to kill a lawsuit filed in May by a union representing about 75,000 workers across U.S. agencies that challenges the federal debt ceiling law.
"Why is the Biden administration trying to rob itself of a clear opportunity to protect American workers and the economy from being roiled by MAGA saboteurs?" asked Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project.
A federal judge canceled plans to hear arguments for the National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) case when President Joe Biden and congressional Republicans who were holding the economy hostage announced a negotiated deal to suspend the nation's borrowing limit until 2025—signed into law in early June as the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA).
Biden then ordered his aides to create a working group intended to prevent similar crises in the future. As the White House said last month, "Now that the latest debt ceiling crisis is behind us, it is necessary to explore all legal and policy options to prevent Congress from ever again holding hostage the full faith and credit of the United States."
Now, as Government Executivereported earlier this week, even though "federal employees are still facing the prospect of delayed paychecks when the debt ceiling is reinstated in 2025," the U.S. Department of Justice "asked Judge Richard Stearns of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to dismiss the case, suggesting the FRA has made the case moot and NAGE members lack standing because their claims are 'wholly speculative.'"
"After calling for just such a case to be brought, the Biden administration now fights it, demonstrating a truly remarkable willingness to shoot itself in the foot."
Hauser said that "the Justice Department's notion that the federal employees' claims of injury are 'wholly speculative, as they depend on a future chain of events that may never occur,' is absurd: The crisis is scheduled to recur precisely on January 1, 2025, as it has recurred repeatedly this century."
"In the meantime, uncertainty continues to trouble hundreds of thousands of federal workers, who have no guarantee of how their jobs, salaries, and pensions will be affected," he noted. "Indeed, the stance that [Attorney General] Merrick Garland's Justice Department is advancing creates an unfortunately sound case against workers considering taking a job in what has become an unstable federal government."
During the drawn-out fight earlier this year, as Republicans in Congress signaled their willingness to force the first-ever U.S. default despite warnings of a resulting economic catastrophe, Biden even suggested that while he wasn't planning to invoke the 14th Amendment—which states that the validity of the nation's public debt "shall not be questioned"—to end the current crisis, he would be open to challenging the debt ceiling law in the future.
"Rather than use the existing case as a means to that end, however, the administration is seeking to have it dismissed. The Justice Department declined to weigh in further on the merits of the case, reducing its argument only to the union's lack of standing," Government Executive explained, noting that a hearing on the motion to dismiss the case is set for August 29.
Hauser said that "after calling for just such a case to be brought, the Biden administration now fights it, demonstrating a truly remarkable willingness to shoot itself in the foot."
"The administration has every authority to take a different tack in this lawsuit and make space for the constitutionality of the debt limit to be worked out in the famously slow-moving U.S. legal system before the clock runs out on preventing the next crisis," he stressed.
The NAGE complaint names as defendants Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in their official capacities.
Biden is seeking reelection next year and is expected to face the Republican nominee; former President Donald Trump is currently leading a crowded field of GOP candidates in spite of his legal issues, including the recent indictment related to his efforts to overturn his 2020 loss, which led to the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Even if Biden wins in 2024 and Democrats keep control of the Senate and regain a majority in the House of Representatives, they may lack the votes needed to extend the suspension or raise the debt ceiling in early 2025. Democratic lawmakers notably declined to take action on the borrowing limit after the last midterm elections, despite warnings that Republicans would use their House takeover this year to hold the economy hostage to extract concessions.
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Dems Unveil Debt Ceiling Reform Act to Prevent Future GOP Hostage-Taking
"After a near-catastrophic default thanks to political games by our Republican colleagues, it's time to put the debt ceiling in the hands of the Treasury secretary," said Sen. Dick Durbin.
Jun 09, 2023
In the wake of President Joe Biden and Congress just barely averting an economically catastrophic U.S. default, a pair of Democratic leaders on Friday introduced a bill intended to stop Republican lawmakers from holding the economy hostage again.
Contending that the recent crisis proves the current process "is broken and unsustainable," House Budget Committee Ranking Member Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced the Debt Ceiling Reform Act.
Boyle and Durbin's move comes after Biden on Saturday signed the so-called Fiscal Responsibility Act—the debt ceiling compromise he negotiated with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)—just two days before the default deadline. The deal suspends the borrowing limit until 2025, after the next election cycle, but includes devstating concessions to the GOP.
"A definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result. If we do not significantly change the debt ceiling process, Republicans will keep taking our economy hostage and provoking default," Boyle warned. "The Debt Ceiling Reform Act will end Republicans' perennial weaponization of the debt ceiling once and for all by making it harder for extremists to take the debt ceiling hostage."
\u201cWe just saw MAGA Republicans use the debt ceiling to hold our nation hostage \u2014 threatening to crash the economy unless they got their extreme demands.\n\nToday, I'm introducing legislation to make sure it never happens again.\u201d— Rep. Brendan Boyle (@Rep. Brendan Boyle) 1686316686
"This legislation is a sensible response to Republicans' repeated hostage-taking, manufactured default crises, and toxic brinkmanship," he said. "I am proud to join Sen. Durbin in introducing this much-needed legislation to permanently take default off the table and provide the economic stability the American people deserve from their government."
Although the proposal would not fully abolish the arbitrary and arguably unconstitutional debt limit—as some economists, legislators, scholars, and others have called for in response to recent GOP conduct—Boyle and Durbin's legislation would authorize the U.S. Treasury Department to continue paying the nation's bills unless, within 30 days, both chambers pass a veto-proof resolution of disapproval.
The sponsors highlighted that it is similar to what Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) proposed in 2011, when the Obama administration—for which Biden was vice president—was working with a divided Congress to prevent a historic default.
According to The Wall Street Journal, which exclusively reported on the bill's introduction:
Boyle concedes that the bill's prospects in the Republican-led House are dim, but he said he is hopeful that some GOP lawmakers might be convinced that debt ceiling fights are more trouble than they are worth, particularly after a rebellion from some conservative lawmakers over the latest debt ceiling deal paralyzed the House this week.
"I am hoping that there will be Republican members who are interested in this specific reform," he said.
A similar bill introduced by Boyle and Durbin last Congress had 22 House co-sponsors, all of them Democrats. The new bill has at least 48 House co-sponsors, including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Durbin is the sole Senate sponsor.
"After a near-catastrophic default thanks to political games by our Republican colleagues, it's time to put the debt ceiling in the hands of the Treasury secretary," Durbin declared Friday. "For the sake of the American people and for the good of our economy, we need legislation to reform the way we address the debt ceiling."
"The Debt Ceiling Reform Act is responsible, commonsense legislation that will give the Treasury the authority to raise the debt ceiling," he continued. "If Republicans are truly concerned about the economic well-being of America, they will work with us on this sensible solution."
\u201cThe debt ceiling is an entirely made-up issue that serves no purpose besides giving Republicans the chance to hold our economy hostage every few years.\n\nIt's about time Dems started seriously working towards eliminating it for good.\nhttps://t.co/WRnJSS5gwR\u201d— Patriotic Millionaires (@Patriotic Millionaires) 1686322492
Meanwhile, calls for Democratic leadership to work toward abolishing the debt limit—whether through the courts or legislation—continue to mount, especially given concerns about a fight over the next hike.
"This round of negotiations was fought to a draw, but the White House backed itself into a corner before the next one even started. The White House may have won a reprieve from fiscal policy fights, but there's a fiscal policy hurricane brewing," Dylan Gyauch-Lewis, a researcher at the Revolving Door Project, wrote Friday for The American Prospect.
If Biden wins reelection next year but the GOP secures a majority in one or both chambers of Congress, Gyauch-Lewis warned, "Republicans will likely be able to again hold the entire global economy hostage. The ransom this time around may well be even more drastic. The GOP, emboldened by their victory, could try to win extensions of spending and tax cuts along with kneecapping the Democratic agenda."
"Arguably, Biden would still find himself embroiled in these negotiations even if Democrats flip the House and hold the Senate; it's entirely plausible that he could need to court moderate votes," he added. "Or Biden may not be able to get everything into a package that can make it through the Senate's reconciliation process, in which case he would need 60 votes, something Democrats almost certainly won't have on their own."
\u201cWe are going to have a fiscal Kilimanjaro in 2025, with the election outcome highly relevant for policy. Our friends at @revolvingdoorDC write that an assessment of last week's debt deal is incomplete without thinking about how it sets up the next one.\nhttps://t.co/Y6zK29ai1s\u201d— David Dayen (@David Dayen) 1686316728
In an OtherWords column this week, Karen Dolan, who directs the Criminalization of Race and Poverty Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, stressed that while this time around, "Biden was able to hold off the worst harm, this deal still causes significant harm to ordinary people and sets a terrible precedent for more hostage-taking."
"Congress should abolish the debt ceiling," she said. "If Congress won't act, the president should intervene with his considerable executive power and invoke Section 4 of the 14th Amendment, which says that the validity of the public debt of the United States 'shall not be questioned.' He could even mint enough money to ensure there would be no default and no harm to families."
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