“The past debt ceiling paid for everything in the Trump administration, plus seven months of this Biden administration.”
— House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), in an interview on Fox News, Sept. 21
The Washington Post call McCarthy’s statement “highly misleading.” Debt accumulates when the government spends more than it takes in. However, the cause of this debt can occur much earlier, when the legislature authorizes spending and changes to tax laws.
So, Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for the wealthy and business owners have contributed to increased debt since the debt ceiling was suspended in 2019. The CARES act, was a 2.2 trillion dollar program, signed into law by President Trump in response to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Democrats and Republicans supported the suspension or increases in the debt ceiling three times under President Trump.
Republicans and Kevin McCarthy are real hypocrites, because the debt ceiling must be increased as a result of spending bills and tax cuts they supported during the Trump administration.
Republican refused to approve increases or suspension of the debt ceiling in 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015 while Obama was president until we were at the brink of exhausting all extraordinary measures to keep from defaulting on our debt. Then suddenly raising the debt ceiling was ok, under the Trump administration.
The US credit rating fell after the 2011 debt ceiling crisis, which increases the interest we pay on our debt obligations, even though in the end, the debt ceiling was raised.
Honestly, the debt ceiling should not exist. Per Wikipedia: In January 2013, a survey of 38 highly regarded economists found that 84% agreed that, since Congress already approves spending and taxation, “a separate debt ceiling that has to be increased periodically creates unneeded uncertainty and can potentially lead to worse fiscal outcomes.” Only one member of the panel, Luigi Zingales, disagreed with the statement. Rating agency Moody’s has stated that “the debt limit creates a high level of uncertainty”and that the government should change “its framework for managing government debt to lessen or eliminate that uncertainty”.
Stay tuned,
Dave
Links:
Washington Post, White House rules out concessions over debt ceiling while GOP refuses to help avert crisis
Washington Post: McCarthy’s misleading claim that 2019 debt-ceiling hike paid for all of Trump’s policies
Congress Must Suspend or Raise the Debt Limit
Wikipedia: Debt Ceiling
Wikipedia: History of Debt Ceiling
Politifact Kevin McCarthy’s Honesty
Mostly “Pants on Fire” or “False” statements.
news and views 
I did not want to add another post on the debt ceiling limit. But I found the comment by Politifact so factually correct, I had to post it. Senator Scott was the governor of Florida and now a senator. His statement, “Democrats are responsible for the massive spending and debt growth, they alone need to take responsibility for raising the debt limit.” is considered mostly false by Politico, but I see it as totally false.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/sep/27/rick-scott/rick-scott-blames-democrats-expanding-debt-it-was-/
LikeLike
It is Oct 4, and there isn’t any time left for brinkmanship (the art or practice of pursuing a dangerous policy to the limits of safety before stopping, especially in politics). I am up to here listening to how the Democrat’s infrastructure bill has burden the US with enormous debts. It has not added one cent to our debt, because nothing has passed. What the Congress must do, in the next two weeks, is make it possible for the US to pay bills that have come due, as a result of tax cuts and expenditures under both Trump and Biden’s administrations.
LikeLike