GOP senators disavow Trump on debt ceiling, signaling growing rift | The Hill
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
by Alexander Bolton - 05/12/23 6:00 AM ET
Senate Republicans are disavowing former President Trump's call to let the federal government default on its debts unless President Biden agrees to "massive" spending cuts, dismissing Trump's suggestion as something far too risky to seriously consider.
The cold reception to Trump's bold statement is the latest sign of the widening rift between Trump and his party's Washington establishment.
While Trump maintains strong influence in the House, where he helped Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) nail down enough votes to be elected Speaker, it's a different story in the Senate.
GOP senators largely ignored Trump's participation in a CNN's town hall Wednesday and later dismissed the former president's claim that failing to raise the debt ceiling by next month's deadline might not be a big deal.
"I don't think anybody suggesting that 'we have to do a default' is wise policy, wise strategy for this country," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), adding that Trump "certainly doesn't impact" her view.
She argued it would be far more productive to encourage Biden and McCarthy to work together to reach a compromise rather than pushing a default as a viable option.
"Right now, the talks are going on with the top four and of course the White House, and now the staffs. What we want to do is encourage that every step of the way," she said.
Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) said "most people recognize we need to strike a deal here" and predicted that Trump's impacts won't get much traction among GOP lawmakers.
"I don't think we want to go there with the potential consequences," he said of a potential default.
Asked about Trump's comments, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), an adviser to the Senate GOP leadership team, said: "Nobody thinks default is a good idea. Nobody."
McCarthy on Thursday distanced himself from Trump's comments.
"The only thing I see right now is that the Republicans made sure default is not on the table. We've raised the debt limit," he said, referring to the bill House Republicans passed last month to raise the debt ceiling to $1.5 trillion and cut spending by $4.8 trillion.
"The only person talking about default right now is President Biden. His actions, he's ignored this problem, just like he's ignored the border, that means more Americans are gonna die from fentanyl. You had 11,000 people just yesterday come across," he said.
Those are much different tones than the one Trump struck at the CNN town hall, where he declared: "I say to the Republicans out there — congressmen, senators — if they don't give you massive cuts, you're gonna have to default."
He went on to say that a federal default might not have as big an impact on the U.S. economy as experts predict.
Trump said the consequences of failing to extend the debt limit by the deadline "could be maybe nothing" or result in only "a bad week or a bad day."
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), when asked about Trump's comments, said: "Yeah, well, we can't do a default but we should find a way to reach a compromise. That's what you expect a president to do."
Romney said Trump is rooting for a default because it's in his political interests.
"If there were a default, the one person who might be tempted to celebrate politically would be Donald Trump, because he'd say, 'If I were president, this would have never happened,'" he said.
Romney said Trump's CNN town hall appearance showed a person "untethered to the truth and untethered to the constitutional order."
He also criticized Trump for saying he would pardon the people who invaded the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and for not expressing support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.
"A crime is a crime. I believe in juries, and people who've been convicted of a crime ought to pay the penalty that the jury or the court imposed and [that] they agreed to, in some cases," Romney said.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said he wasn't that surprised that Trump advised Republicans to let the nation default.
"It doesn't surprise me he'd say that," Cassidy said. "The president is a candidate trying to run on a very populist base, and I think he feels like that will position him in place he gets more votes, and I think he'll say whatever he needs to, to get more votes."
Cassidy said he wasn't sure how it would influence Trump's allies in the House.
"I don't have their temperature," he said.
A Republican senator who requested anonymity to comment candidly on Trump said senators would ignore the advice.
"I don't know about the House, but I don't think there are a lot of senators who wait for his instructions," the lawmaker said.
But the senator expressed uncertainty whether Trump might push House conservatives to take a harder line in the talks.
"I don't know," the senator said. "We need to be working together."
House Republicans mostly dodged Trump's call to let the nation default if Democrats refuse to agree to massive cuts, but they were less critical of Trump's comments than some of their Senate Republican colleagues.
Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), the vice chairman of the House Republican Conference, said a default is what House Republicans are trying to avoid.
"Obviously, if there's not a deal, then there's default. That's what we're all trying to prevent," he said.
He downplayed Trump's influence by noting, "obviously, he's not part of this negotiation."
Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) said he views Trump's willingness to let the nation default as campaign rhetoric.
"I forget who said it, but you know, you campaign in poetry and you govern in prose. … Candidates talk about things differently than people who are trying to get to a deal," he said, referring to the political maxim made famous by late New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.
Mychael Schnell and Emily Brooks contributed.
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This "New McCarthy Era" sucks just as badly as the original McCarthy Era, because there are actually zero degrees of separation between the two...
It's the same cast of characters
Of course he's all for the government defaulting on its debts....that's standard practice for him in his business dealings
At long last the gop has no decency! No shame!
Everything this McCarthy knows he learned from that McCarthy! The Bookends of McCarthy Eras...
As if the McCarthy Era wasn't enough McCarthy Era!
Which "McCarthy Era" is The Worst McCarthy Era?
Personally, Id like to see the government stop paying its bills, with the Dems loudly denouncing the resulting chaos.
Yes, just like the last time and the time before...
You and trump think alike!
So Biden and schumer default and then try to exploit it politically. Whatever it takes to distract from Biden opening the border, corruption etc.. with a 36% approval, what does he have to lose?
party over country every time.
That lie is circulating within MAGA circles...
Butt, Republican Senators are not buying it!
Why hasn’t Schumer passed a bill raising the debt limit?
McCarthy and the republicans Have. The ball is in Schumers court.
Is that what Fox is saying? You believe it?
All approrpriation bills begin in the House.
What McCarthy's gop passed is DOA going forward. The Senate won't pass it and the President won't sign it. McCarthy's bill is merely gop blackmail, Econo-Terrorism!
that what Fox is saying? You believe it?
I would assume every reputable news agency is saying it. It’s absolutely true.
Schumer and the democrats have to pass a bill in order move forward. They haven’t. Those are indisputable facts.
So in your mind cutting spending is eco-terrorism?
Hey, there, Sean. How goes it?
I don't mean to discourage your posting Replies to me, but just know that I'll never again take the bait.
No, threatening to not pay our nation's accumulated obligations from our past budget deficits which will throw ours and the entire world's economies into chaos and depression is Econo-Terrorism! Not raising the debt limit is not on the table!
What part of the House passed the damned resolution don't you understand. It's the damned senate and Biden who are refusing NOT the GOP and House. Read up.
You were misinformed, probably by Fox.
Debt ceiling is not the same as budget...
The debt limit is about paying our debt.
Budget is about future spending/taxes!
Where the hell did I say anything about budget? They approved raising the debt limit but want future cuts to go along with it. Get a fucking clue.
Yes, that is blackmail, econo-terrorism!
Where's my apology for the "You were misinformed" bullshit?
Then the Republicans can blame Biden and the ignorant voters will believe them but I can't understand all the fooferawe about the debt ceiling since Biden has the ability to carry on using Amendment 14. I guess it's just politics, and for the rest of the world it's entertainment.
Biden absolutely does not have the ability to use the 14th amendment to act unilaterally. That’s insane.
The gop's position is basically like renters refusing to pay past due rent unless their landlord agrees to big cuts in their rents.
Like telling bankers they won't pay their old debts, if the bank won't loan them more $!
It does not work that way in the real world...
We cannot negotiate with Econo-Terrorists!
Then to quote Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) in Casablanca, "I was misinformed."
Some crackpot left wingers have floated it, but simply reading the amendments text is enough to discredit it.
Yeah, but the consequence of not paying past due rent is eviction.
For some reason the American Constitution and Amendments were not part of my school curriculum in Canada, and anyway I guess I should have paid attention to what grandpappy said: "Don't believe anything you read or hear, and believe only half of what you see." However in these days of photoshopping and video editing, one should believe only what they see with their own eyes. It's kind of hard to believe anything these days, isn't it Sean.
Never been done. The flak would be bad.
why do you insist that the GOP isn't doing anything when they have already passed something we are waiting for the Democratic Senate to pass?
Here is an example of what you might consider "crackpot":
Yes, the dailykos is pretty much the definition of crackpot.
The text of the 14th Amendment is available for all to see. No one reasonably familiar with the English language can argue it invests the President with the power to unilaterally authorize the borrowing of money.
You say "unilaterally", but "with a little help from his friends" (the Beatles?) then I suppose it is possible, otherwise is not the quotation about his considering it just an indication of his ignorance of the Constitution and Amendments? Since the consequences announced about the disastrous results from not raising the debt ceiling are as serious as indicated would the damage caused therefrom far outweigh any from using that method if required?
The flak from nothing being done to raise the debt ceiling could be worse.
The 14th says
IMNAAHO, this says the the executive branch would be at fault if it did NOT pay its debts.
The esteemed Professor Emeritus of Harvard University and constitutional law scholar Lawrence Tribe has confirmed this several times in the past week.
That's a relief! I was wondering if I'd lost the ability to read...