The Lead with Jake Tapper: Rep. Brendan Boyle, (D-PA), Is Interviewed About Debt Ceiling
Interview
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Well, as you may know, Jake, I actually led an effort to do exactly that, as well as pass some permanent reforms last term. And obviously, I wish that that would have taken place. But we're here in the present right now. And so, rather than worrying about or wondering what may have been, I think it's important to focus on the here and now.
And I have a different effort that I'm pushing, the discharge petition. We just reached 213 signatures. Every single House Democrat has signed that petition. We are ready and willing to have a vote to raise the debt ceiling today and end this potential catastrophe once and for all. And I certainly hope that a number of Republican colleagues will step up, add their name to that petition, and we can end this right.
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Well, there are a few points to keep in mind, Jake. First, I voted a number of times, as did my Democratic colleagues, to raise the debt ceiling when Donald Trump was president. So did Republicans. Three increases in the debt ceiling. None of them had any spending cuts. The only thing that has changed is now we have a Democrat in the White House instead of a Republican.
I have said, though, moving forward, of course I am willing to negotiate about what next year's budget looks like. We have to do that every year any way by midnight, September 30th. We certainly should have that negotiation.
But it should be separate on the fundamental question as to whether or not America will pay its bills. We must avoid default. That cannot be negotiable. But sure, we should negotiate about what spending looks like next year and the year beyond.
But let's be clear, when we talk about the national debt, there are two sides of that equation. There's the spending side, but there's also the revenue side. Unfortunately, too many of my Republican friends want to pursue tax cuts for the richest 1 percent that only add trillions of dollars more to the national debt.
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Thank you.
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