The debt ceiling debate has been a hot one on Capitol Hill in the last few years, especially as the Biden Administration seemingly wanted to spend the country to the poor house. Now, we face deficit issues, and a looming summer deadline to raise the ceiling, or face some catastrophic issues in terms of government funding.

The Department of Government Efficiency has helped find some of the wasteful spending in their short time, particularly with USAID, which has helped somewhat. But America is still sitting trillions in debt, and more slashes need to be made to ensure America does not go broke like Biden almost intended.

Economist Peter Morici says, like most President's, Trump does not want to deal with this, and it is in his best interest to fold it into a package deal.

"If he can get that rolled into a budget deal, or into a reconciliation bill, so much the better," he says.

But until a bill like that presents itself, or DOGE can cut all the spending waste done by Democrats over the last four years, America is staring down the barrel of not being able to meet their debt obligations by summertime.

As it stands at the time of writing this article, the national debt is over $36 trillion, equating out to around $107,000 per citizen, and over $323,000 per taxpayer. DOGE has managed to save around $92 billion, but in the large scope of things, that is pennies. As insane as that sounds.

So, in all reality, President Trump is faced with raising the debt ceiling. But the deficit hawks of the Republican party are not going to be eager to get on board with that.

"To get a deal on the debt ceiling, they want deficit reduction...I do not think he can deliver that given his aspirations," says Morici. "I do not see this as something that is terribly doable, but you never know. All kinds of miracles happen in the middle of the night in Washington, where people are tired, and compromise to get things done."

As mentioned, the clock is ticking on the issue. Usually, there is a work around to fixing it, and Trump has shown abilities to get things done in unconventional ways time and again.

However, this time, there is no real work around to the problem.

"We are up against the limits, and it has to be raised...we will be out of money by July, and he has to do something about this," he says. "The government stops if the debt ceiling is not raised by summer."

Morici adds that the Republican-controlled House and Senate need to work with Trump on a deal. If they do not, Trump will shoulder the blame for a shutdown, when in reality, it will just be a byproduct of a sluggish, hawkish Washington that would rather wither on a vine than compromise.

Jimmy Barrett

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