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"As
far as the debt ceiling is concerned, we will not be revisiting
the debt ceiling until some time next year," McConnell told
reporters. "And getting Congress to give up a tool like that
would probably be quite a challenging undertaking."
Congress must periodically raise the debt limit to keep the U.S.
government borrowing and operating. Lawmakers sometimes take
advantage of that need to push through policy or spending
changes.
Trump voiced support last week for the idea of eliminating the
statutory cap on the U.S. Treasury Department's authority to
borrow, saying he discussed the possibility with congressional
leaders.
"It complicates things. It's really not necessary," Trump told
reporters at the White House on Thursday.
At a White House meeting a day earlier, Trump made a surprise
deal with Democratic congressional leaders for extending the
debt limit for three months tied to hurricane relief legislation
and funding for government operations into December.
In the meeting, which was also attended by top congressional
Republicans and administration officials, Senate Democratic
leader Chuck Schumer proposed eliminating the debt limit, and
Trump and Vice President Mike Pence said they liked the idea,
one person familiar with the meeting said.
White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney told Fox News Channel
that Trump was frustrated by the way the debt ceiling has been
used and had asked him to "explore ways to sort of depoliticize
it."
"We’ll continue to work on that. I don’t think the debt ceiling
... will be an issue until January, February of next year,"
Mulvaney said.
Some Republicans expressed opposition to Trump's deal with the
Democrats, and conservative groups accused the president of
caving in rather than insisting on spending cuts to accompany
the debt ceiling increase.
But the House of Representatives and the Senate, which are both
controlled by Republicans, quickly approved the deal, including
about $15 billion in hurricane-related aid, and it was signed
into law by Trump on Friday.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan and David Morgan; Writing by Doina
Chiacu and Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Peter
Cooney and David Gregorio)
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