GOP Strategizes About Raising the Debt Ceiling

Playbook: “Republicans on Capitol Hill are already beginning to fret over how they’ll lift the debt ceiling in the age of Donald Trump. Here’s how top Republicans are thinking of things. In the past, fiscal conservatives have insisted on cutting spending to match any increase of the debt ceiling . If they hold fast on that this time around, they’ll have to go after entitlements — which Trump has been cool to. GOP leadership will spend much of the first part of 2017 passing an infrastructure bill, working on tax reform and repealing the health care law — and that will take a lot of political capital.”

“There has been some discussion about lifting the debt ceiling — which has to be done by late summer — as part of a larger deal, but there are mixed feelings about going down that path. Rank-and-file Republicans have relished fights over the debt ceiling, so with the White House in GOP hands, they might not be so eager to get in line. That Republicans are already thinking — and strategizing — about this shows how big of a deal it will be.”