Politics

Trump Blames Ryan And McConnell For Potential Government Shutdown

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Phillip Stucky Political Reporter
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President Donald Trump blamed Republican leaders in Congress for the debt ceiling “mess” Thursday morning on his official Twitter account.

“I requested that Mitch M and Paul R tie the Debt Ceiling legislation into the popular V.A. Bill (which just passed) for easy approval,” the president 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!”

Ryan and McConnell plan to pass a “clean” debt ceiling increase that would keep the government in business past the end of September. The debt limit increase wouldn’t include any mandated spending cuts, something that Republican lawmakers in both the House and the Senate are unlikely to agree to, according to Politico.

Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah supports the idea. “We shouldn’t even play with that. It should just be ‘clean,'” Hatch told Politico about the proposed legislation.

The VA bill that Trump referred to in his tweet is S.1094, otherwise known as the Department of Veteran Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017. The bipartisan measure passed the House with 368 votes in favor and 55 votes against, and the Senate with unanimous consent, according to Congress.gov.

If Congress is unable to raise the debt limit, the federal government will shut down, something that Trump appears to support.

“Believe me, if we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall,” he said during a Tuesday rally in Phoenix, Ariz.

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