Warren backs plan to eliminate debt ceiling in lame-duck session

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Sunday backed a plan to get rid of the debt ceiling in the upcoming congressional lame-duck session, following the lead of 31 House Democrats who called to eliminate the spending ceiling in the coming weeks.

Warren told NBC’s “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd that she would “get rid of the debt ceiling altogether” if possible, but that Democrats should at least raise the ceiling in the lame-duck session, or before the new Congress takes over in January.

“If the Democrats take the House, then there’s no urgency around this,” she said. “But no matter what, the United States of America has to honor its outstanding obligations. Me, I’d get rid of the debt ceiling altogether.”

In the midterm elections, Democrats kept a majority in the Senate but may still lose the House to Republicans. Many Democrats fear the new House GOP majority will use the borrowing limit to win cuts in federal spending and federal programs.

Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) led 31 House Democrats in sending a letter to Democratic congressional leadership at the end of October to call for the elimination of the debt ceiling.

Warren, who wrote a New York Times op-ed Saturday calling for the elimination of the debt ceiling, said on Sunday that the debt ceiling “serves no function except to create leverage for people who are willing to blow up the economy.”

“And that’s the problem we’ve got right now. Many of these new Republicans who are coming in are people who are coming in with exactly one goal: get Donald Trump elected in 2024,” she said. “And they see that if they can create chaos in the economy, then they think that may move Donald Trump one inch closer to election.”

“So we’ve got to take that away from them … [and] during the lame duck, take care of raising the debt limit,” she added. “Or getting rid of it altogether. I’m there.”