WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump announced he agrees with a longtime antagonist, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, on the need to abolish the cap on the country’s borrowing.
The announcement marked a thaw in years-long criticism that Trump and Warren of Massachusetts have hurled at each other over government finances and other issues. The rare consensus came as Congress faces the need to raise the country's debt limit again, a hurdle to approving an 1,100-page package of Trump's priorities for tax cuts and border security.
The United States is nearly $37 trillion in debt and every time it approaches the limit on borrowing set by Congress, lawmakers must take a painful vote to raise it or risk being unable to pay bills.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned the country will reach the cap in August. A provision to increase the limit was included in the House-passed package of Trump’s priorities. The two-term Republican president lashed out this week at Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, who opposes the House bill and called for a separate vote on the debt limit.
The debt limit is largely procedural because Congress has always voted to increase it. But the vote every few years becomes a cudgel against members of the governing party because approval contributes to the appearance of unbridled spending.
