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President Donald Trump on Thursday once again attacked the legislative leaders of his own party on Twitter, this time about the upcoming debt ceiling negotiations.
In his tweet, Trump claimed he asked House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to attach legislation to raise the debt ceiling to a recently passed bill reforming the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The logic behind this would be to pressure members, especially conservative Republicans opposing any “clean” debt ceiling hike, into voting for the limit increase.
Trump said the leaders declined.
“I requested that Mitch M & Paul R tie the Debt Ceiling legislation into the popular V.A. Bill (which just passed) for easy approval,” Trump tweeted. “They didn’t do it so now we have a big deal with Dems holding them up (as usual) on Debt Ceiling approval. Could have been so easy-now a mess!”
The debate over raising the debt ceiling will likely roil Washington for the month of September.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said if the debt ceiling is not raised by the end of next month, the US is in danger of defaulting on its debt. That could trigger a major crisis in the global financial system.
While the idea of rolling a debt ceiling increase onto other legislation has been floated by various members, no one in leadership had confirmed that it was under serious consideration until Trump’s tweet.
Spokespeople for McConnell and Ryan didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump’s attacks come at a fraught period for relations between the White House and GOP leaders.
Trump has repeatedly attacked McConnell over the past few weeks, prompting a statement on Wednesday from both sides reiterating their working relationship.
While Ryan and Trump have not engaged in such public disagreements, Trump attacked the healthcare bill passed by House Republicans as “mean” just weeks after helping to spearhead it through the chamber.
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