Trump Proposes Raising Debt Ceiling Until 2029

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‘Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling,’ Trump said.

President-elect Donald Trump has doubled down on his support for eliminating or extending the debt ceiling, as Congress tries to avert a government shutdown.

Taking to social media, Trump urged lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling by at least four fiscal years.

“Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling,” Trump wrote in a Dec. 20 post on social media platform Truth Social. “Without this, we should never make a deal.

“Remember, the pressure is on whoever is President.”

Congress will have until 11:59 p.m. ET on Dec. 20 to avoid a government shutdown.

Trump said that if this happened, it would be better to do so under President Joe Biden.

“If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now, under the Biden Administration, not after January 20th, under ‘TRUMP,’” the president-elect later wrote on Truth Social. “This is a Biden problem to solve, but if Republicans can help solve it, they will!”

His latest remarks come one day after he told NBC News that he would unite with Democrats to abolish the debt ceiling.

“The Democrats have said they want to get rid of it,” he said in a Dec. 19 phone interview. “If they want to get rid of it, I would lead the charge.”

Trump also said that any Republicans who support an agreement without increasing the debt ceiling should be primaried for the 2026 midterm elections.

Bharat Ramamurti, former deputy director of the National Economic Council, urged Democrats to take advantage of the opportunity to eliminate the debt limit “so it can’t be used to extort a future Democratic president.”

“Democrats never use the debt limit to extract policy concessions from Republicans,” Ramamurti wrote on social media platform X in a Dec. 18 post. “Its only purpose is for the GOP to threaten the global economy to extract concessions from Democrats.

“Let’s end this farce and notch a win for economic stability in the process.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) agreed that Congress should eliminate the debt limit but would not support a two-year suspension.

“A two-year increase in the debt limit to grease the wheels for Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans’ tax handouts for billionaires is a terrible deal,” Warren wrote on X.

House Minority Leader (D-N.Y.) gave a “hard pass” to Trump’s proposal.

“GOP extremists want House Democrats to raise the debt ceiling so that House Republicans can lower the amount of your Social Security check,” Jeffries said on social media platform Bluesky on Dec. 19.

Bracing for Shutdown

The lower chamber voted down House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) plan, endorsed by the president-elect, on Dec. 19 to avoid a shutdown and suspend the debt limit. The bill failed after Democrats and 38 Republicans rejected the legislation, primarily because it suspended the debt limit for two years.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said he would not support increasing the debt limit without major spending cuts.

“You never have any ounce of self-respect. Go out and campaign, say you’re gonna balance the budget, and then you come in here, pass $110 billion unpaid for,” Roy said on the House floor on Dec. 19.

House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) questions Attorney General Merrick Garland during a committee hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 4, 2024. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) — House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) questions Attorney General Merrick Garland during a committee hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 4, 2024. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

“This side of the aisle is unserious about actually reducing deficits.”

Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) echoed his colleague’s sentiment.

“No more $100 billion unpaid supplementals (or any other amount),” he wrote on X. “The era of reckless borrowing and spending must be over.”

However, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) recommended that his colleagues in the House raise the debt ceiling.

“President Trump is absolutely right. We must raise the debt limit and get this deal done,” he said on X. “Let’s see if the Democrats get on board.”

The debt ceiling is a cap on the maximum amount Congress can borrow to pay its bills, such as Social Security, Medicare, and interest on the national debt. In recent years, it has been frequently used for political brinksmanship.

In May 2023, Biden and then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy agreed to raise the debt ceiling and suspended it until Jan. 1, 2025.

The deadline is often extended because the Treasury Department usually takes extraordinary measures, such as tapping into the Federal Reserve’s general account and suspending reinvestments in federal employee retirement funds.