Paul Ryan praised Trump's decision to side with Democrats on debt increase as 'a bipartisan moment for the country'
Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters
In a live interview Thursday morning with The New York Times, Ryan shrugged off the notion that Trump was being dismissive of Republicans, instead saying his "read of the moment" was that it was an attempt to unite the country while hurricanes are pummeling parts of the US.
"What the president didn't wanna do is have some partisan fight in the middle of the response to this," Ryan said. "He wanted to make sure that in this moment of national crisis where our country's getting hit by two horrible hurricanes, that he wanted to have a bipartisan response and not a food fight on the timing of the debt limit attached to this bill."
However, Ryan added that he still believes the deal for a three-month debt ceiling increase is misguided.
"I personally believe for credit markets sake, we should have longer extensions of these - I just don't think it's good for the credit markets to have these short term debt extensions," he said. "I think that government agency funding is one thing, but the credit markets I think is a different thing."
In a meeting at the White House on Wednesday, Trump bucked his own top aides as well as both Republican leaders in Congress, instead siding with the Democrats' pitch over multiple attempts to compromise. According to multiple reported accounts of the meeting, Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin pitched an 18-month increase, then a six-month plan in an effort to compromise. Trump overruled them all, instead siding with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
"We had a very good meeting with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. "We agreed to a three-month extension on debt ceiling, which they consider to be sacred - very important - always we'll agree on debt ceiling automatically because of the importance of it."
Hours prior to the White House meeting, Ryan said at a press conference that the Democrats' plan was "playing politics."
"I think that's ridiculous and disgraceful that they want to play politics with the debt ceiling at this moment when we have fellow citizens in need," he said.
The House passed a $7.85 billion aid package for Hurricane Harvey on Wednesday, which the Senate is slated to attach to the three-month debt increase later this week.
- A centenarian who starts her day with gentle exercise and loves walks shares 5 longevity tips, including staying single
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- FSSAI in process of collecting pan-India samples of Nestle's Cerelac baby cereals: CEO
- 7 Nutritious and flavourful tiffin ideas to pack for school
- India's e-commerce market set to skyrocket as the country's digital economy surges to USD 1 Trillion by 2030
- Top 5 places to visit near Rishikesh
- Indian economy remains in bright spot: Ministry of Finance
- A surprise visit: Tesla CEO Elon Musk heads to China after deferring India visit
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market