By
Toluse Olorunnipa
and
Erik Wasson
August 24, 2017, 8:01 AM CDTAugust 24, 2017, 11:48 AM CDT
President Donald Trumpsaid he asked Republican leaders in Congress to include a measure to raise the U.S. debt ceiling in a popular veterans bill to avoid a “mess” in which they have to rely on Democrats’ support.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin decided against tying the measures together, Trump said in a series of Twitter posts Thursday.
“I requested that Mitch M & Paul R tie the Debt Ceiling legislation into the popular V.A. Bill (which just passed) for easy approval. They didn’t do it so now we have a big deal with Dems holding them up (as usual) on Debt Ceiling approval. Could have been so easy-now a mess!” Trump tweeted.
GOP leaders in July discussed using a veterans bill as a vehicle to raise the debt ceiling. But conservatives in the House have demanded that steep spending cuts accompany any debt bill. Lawmakers are still trying to figure out whether there is a debt bill that can pass with only Republican votes in the House, or whether they will need to move a bill with bipartisan support that doesn’t contain any spending cuts.
Trump threatened Tuesday night to shut down the government over funding for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, which could complicate Congress’s job of raising the debt ceiling. Congress needs to pass a spending measure to keep the government open after Sept. 30 -- at the same time it’s facing a deadline to raise the nation’s debt limit. GOP leaders don’t have a plan yet for how they’ll proceed, but one likely scenario is to package the two measures together to get them to the president’s desk...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-debt-ceiling-mess-on-gop-leaders-in-congress
Toluse Olorunnipa
and
Erik Wasson
August 24, 2017, 8:01 AM CDTAugust 24, 2017, 11:48 AM CDT
- President calls out McConnell, Ryan in series of tweets
- Congress needs spending plan by Sept. 30 to avoid shutdown
President Donald Trumpsaid he asked Republican leaders in Congress to include a measure to raise the U.S. debt ceiling in a popular veterans bill to avoid a “mess” in which they have to rely on Democrats’ support.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin decided against tying the measures together, Trump said in a series of Twitter posts Thursday.
“I requested that Mitch M & Paul R tie the Debt Ceiling legislation into the popular V.A. Bill (which just passed) for easy approval. They didn’t do it so now we have a big deal with Dems holding them up (as usual) on Debt Ceiling approval. Could have been so easy-now a mess!” Trump tweeted.
GOP leaders in July discussed using a veterans bill as a vehicle to raise the debt ceiling. But conservatives in the House have demanded that steep spending cuts accompany any debt bill. Lawmakers are still trying to figure out whether there is a debt bill that can pass with only Republican votes in the House, or whether they will need to move a bill with bipartisan support that doesn’t contain any spending cuts.
Trump threatened Tuesday night to shut down the government over funding for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, which could complicate Congress’s job of raising the debt ceiling. Congress needs to pass a spending measure to keep the government open after Sept. 30 -- at the same time it’s facing a deadline to raise the nation’s debt limit. GOP leaders don’t have a plan yet for how they’ll proceed, but one likely scenario is to package the two measures together to get them to the president’s desk...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-debt-ceiling-mess-on-gop-leaders-in-congress
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