Thune on GMA3: Republicans Will not Enable Democrats’ Reckless Taxing and Spending

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined Good Morning America 3rd Hour to discuss the need for Democrats to raise the debt ceiling on their own as they pursue a $3.5 trillion reckless tax-and-spending spree.

On Democrats' ability to raise the debt ceiling alone:

"We all believe here that the debt limit needs to be raised. The government needs to be funded. The question in the end is who delivers the votes to do that."

…

"Democrats have a unified government: the White House, the House, and the Senate. And much of their agenda they're moving right now on a very partisan basis, and so our expectation is that for the new spending they want to do, the new taxing they want to do, that they should deliver the votes to raise the debt limit. And they have the wherewithal to do that, it's just, you know, at this point, it's a matter of the will to do it."

On the debt ceiling covering future spending:

"All the spending that was done, people talk about the spending in the last administration, the debt limit that expired on July 31 covered that. This debt limit has to be increased to accommodate the new spending that is being proposed here by the Democrats.

"They've got a proposal to spend $3.5 trillion dollars, much of which will be financed with tax increases, but some of which would have to be added to the debt. And our view is all that spending, all that taxing they're doing through a procedure that enables them to do [it] with all Democrat votes, and if they're going to do all those things with all Democrat votes without, you know, consulting or trying to work with and negotiate with Republicans, that raising the debt limit that would accommodate that additional spending is something that they ought to do with Democrat votes.

"And like I said, they have unified government here in Washington, there is a procedure that enables them to do that, they have the 51 votes to deliver that, and they should just get going on it."

On how Democrats' reckless tax-and-spending spree will increase inflation:

"We made it very clear Republicans are not going to support $3.5 trillion dollars in new spending and all the taxes that go with it. And the sooner we can take this debt limit off the table, the better, and the less people will have to worry about it."

…

"We believe that the American economy has been flooded with so much government money already that we've got inflation taking off. I mean, inflation is a very real issue for people right now.

"Prices are going up - prices for gas and energy, prices for food and everything, and another $3.5 trillion dollars on top of that, which dramatically expands the size of government, and a bunch of new tax increases at a time when the economy is coming out of the pandemic, to us seems like a really bad prescription for the economy.

"And so all we're simply saying, as a matter of principle, Republicans don't believe that's something that we want to enable. And it's a clear distinction I think between the two parties here in Washington, their visions for the future, their views and philosophies about the size and the role of the government, and whether or not we ought to be spending $3.5 trillion dollars at a time when inflation is already really diminishing people's ability to buy things in the market."

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.