Trump Warns No Deal Until Congress Ends Or Extends ‘Ridiculous Debt Ceiling’ In Spending Bill Ultimatum

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President-elect Donald Trump demanded that Congress either abolish the government’s legal borrowing limit or push its expiration date to as far as 2029 in an ultimatum just hours after a spending bill he supported collapsed in the House.

Early Friday, Trump took to Truth Social to react to the news, telling loyalists that they “should never make a deal” that does not involve his recommended changes to the “ridiculous Debt Ceiling.”

Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling. Without this, we should never make a deal. Remember, the pressure is on whoever is President.

(Screengrab via Truth Social)

The pronouncement underscores Trump’s hardline approach to negotiating with a Congress that remains fractured, even as he stands on the cusp of taking office next month.

The standoff on the spending bill needed to avert a government shutdown deepened on Thursday when a short-term spending measure, backed personally by the president-elect, failed to gather enough Republican support.

Congressional leaders scrambled behind closed doors to devise a strategy that might satisfy both the incoming administration’s insistence on sweeping changes and the more cautious members of their caucus.

Instead of rubber-stamping Trump’s proposal, however, dozens of GOP lawmakers broke ranks, abruptly halting the bill’s progress. With no alternative plan immediately forthcoming, the government faces a real risk of running out of funds in the midst of the busiest travel period, potentially upending airport operations and stoking fears of furloughs and service disruptions.