President-elect Trump on Sunday harshly criticized the House GOP, and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), for voting to raise the debt ceiling in 2023 through Jan. 1, 2025.
Trump in a post on Truth Social called McCarthy “a good man and a friend of mine,” but said it would go down as “one of the dumbest political decisions made in years.”
Trump appeared to be criticizing the decision to raise the debt ceiling in May of 2023 through Jan. 1, 2025, though in his post he mentioned a vote in September and wrote that it had extended the debt ceiling through the first six months of the new Trump administration.
The House last voted to raise the debt ceiling on May 31, 2023, after a prolonged series of negotiations with the Democratic Senate and the White House. The measure cleared the House in a bipartisan 314-117 vote.
Without congressional action at that time, the government would soon not have been able to make its obligations.
But Trump in his statement described it as a political mistake and unnecessary.
“The extension of the Debt Ceiling by a previous Speaker of the House, a good man and a friend of mine, from this past September of the Biden Administration, to June of the Trump Administration, will go down as one of the dumbest political decisions made in years,” Trump wrote.
“There was no reason to do it – NOTHING WAS GAINED, and we got nothing for it – A major reason why that Speakership was lost. It was Biden’s problem, not ours. Now it becomes ours. I call it “1929” because the Democrats don’t care what our Country may be forced into,” Trump added, apparently referencing the stock market crash that led into the Great Depression.
“In fact, they would prefer “Depression” as long as it hurt the Republican Party. The Democrats must be forced to take a vote on this treacherous issue NOW, during the Biden Administration, and not in June. They should be blamed for this potential disaster, not the Republicans!” Trump concluded.
Trump issued the statement shortly after a separate post remarking on the death of former President Jimmy Carter.
Trump had urged Congress to raise the debt ceiling in December, introducing the topic late during a standoff over funding the government. The current House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) brought a bill to the floor that included a debt ceiling hike, but it was voted down by Democrats and dozens of House Republicans.
It is possible that vote is grating on Trump, who had pushed the GOP to back a debt ceiling hike so that his administration would not need to deal with the issue in its first months in office.
Markets also have fallen in December, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling more than 4 percent. Trump is a keen observer of the markets.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday warned lawmakers they would need to move quickly in 2025 to raise the debt ceiling again to prevent a U.S. default on its debt obligations.
The Treasury Department can use “extraordinary measures” to continue U.S. payments for some period of time after Jan. 1, 2025. Most observers expect Treasury’s abilty to shift funds and meet U.S. obligations using such measures would last until June of next year.
