A U.S. senator told Breitbart News on Wednesday evening that President-elect Donald Trump’s push to have the debt ceiling increased as part of a government funding deal this week “makes sense” from Trump’s perspective but warned it is unlikely Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer would agree to such a push.
The senator, who asked for anonymity to discuss the very fluid situation on Capitol Hill just days before a government funding deadline on Friday, said Schumer only has one real piece of “leverage” over Trump next year, and that leverage is the debt ceiling deadline.
“It makes sense that Trump wants to get the debt limit off of his plate before he gets there because of course it’s not his problem,” the senator said in a brief phone interview. “But obviously Schumer doesn’t want to give up this problem because it’s the leverage he retains. It’s pretty much the only leverage he retains.”
Asked if Schumer is salivating over using the debt ceiling in the late spring or early summer to extract concessions over Trump, the senator told Breitbart News, “Of course he is—because what else does he have?”
The senator said that other Democrat senators are not all thinking as far as Schumer himself.
“No, they’re just all on the floor freaking out right now,” the senator said. “Everything is in turmoil here and nobody knows what happens next.”
This senator added that using the debt ceiling as a political tool is not healthy for the country.
“I don’t see the debt limit as being a particularly useful tool as both sides just use it to bludgeon the other,” the senator said. “We always pay the debt, that’s what we do as Americans.”
Going over the debt limit is worse than even a government shutdown, too, the senator said.
“There are no winners, but we do actually shut the government down sometimes but we don’t ever go over the debt limit,” the senator told Breitbart News. “There’s a big difference between those two.”
This interview came after House Republicans canceled plans to hold a vote on the government funding plan that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had negotiated over the past several months with Democrats. The plan blew up less than 24 hours after its introduction, thanks in large part to conservative grassroots criticism led by among others billionaire Elon Musk who championed the efforts to kill the bill. The total collapse of Johnson’s proposal was complete when Trump himself weighed in alongside his Vice President-elect JD Vance, the U.S. Senator from Ohio, who together issued a joint statement putting the final nail in Johnson’s bill’s coffin. In the statement, and in subsequent messaging, Trump has pushed the idea that he wants Congress to do a cleaner continuing resolution without all the extra pork like congressional pay raises, gold-plated congressional healthcare plans, and funding for censorship platforms at the U.S. State Department. And Trump has made clear he wants all this alongside a long-term debt ceiling extension that would bring the deadline long past its current expiration at the beginning of June.
Asked if this idea seemed likely, this U.S. senator who spoke with Breitbart News said it did not.
“No—no I don’t,” the senator said. “Because it just doesn’t make sense because why would you, being Chuck, do that?”
Asked if Schumer may fold at the 11th hour before a funding deadline, the senator said that people should not expect that.
“I don’t think so,” the senator said, adding that Schumer probably feels much like House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries who argued that the deal was the deal and it’s the problem of Republicans now to find a way out of this mess ahead of Friday’s deadline.
“I’m sure his [Schumer’s] position is, and I haven’t talked with him, but I’m sure his position is ‘hey we have a deal,’ which is what Jeffries said,” the senator said. “But from their perspective, and again I haven’t talked with them, they don’t need to do work on the next deal. They have a deal, and it’s not their fault that the deal can’t be fulfilled by one side.”
“That’s his [Johnson’s] problem,” the senator added would be the viewpoint of Jeffries and Schumer about where to go from here.
It’s possible, this senator added, that even if Trump does not get his way now that forcing this discussion and fight is him preparing the incoming GOP Senate majority and the renewed but tightened House majority next year to take this issue on earlier rather than running right up against the deadline.
“Maybe—I will say that it is a common Trump tactic to go plant a flag knowing that you’re not going to get everything you want,” the senator said. “So that makes sense from his perspective—yeah, maybe that makes sense.”
In addition to the government funding issues and debt ceiling questions, another major issue hangs in the balance which is disaster aid. This senator said members of both parties are concerned about that.
“I think disaster relief is very important to members of both parties,” the senator said. “But I don’t think anyone knows what to do next.”
But as of now, on the whole, the situation regarding government funding and the debt ceiling is “murky” per the senator, and nobody knows where this goes as of Wednesday evening.
“I’m not sure but we’ve only got two days,” the senator said. “I’ll be honest I don’t know how it plays out. I think by tomorrow it will become a little bit less murky. But tonight it’s very murky. I don’t think anyone can tell you how this is going to end up yet. Maybe we’ll have a better idea tomorrow. Things could change by tomorrow. For now, this is where it’s at.”
