During his meeting with congressional leaders on Wednesday, President Donald Trump supported a proposal from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to eliminate the need for Congress to vote to raise the debt ceiling altogether, according to several reports out Thursday.
Schumer suggested such a deal in the meeting, and Trump agreed that it was a good idea, according to the Washington Post, Politico, and Reuters. The two reached a “gentleman’s agreement,” a White House official told the Washington Post. Schumer said that Democrats would work on a proposal that could potentially come up for a vote in December, according to the reports.
Trump and Schumer reached an agreement to pursue this plan in the same meeting in which Trump backed Democrats’ proposal to tie Hurricane Harvey aid to legislation funding the government and raising the debt ceiling through mid-December.
The President then acknowledged to reporters on Thursday that he would consider eliminating the debt limit entirely.
“It could be discussed,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting when asked by reporters if he would be open to nixing the debt ceiling. “There are a lot of good reasons to do that.”
A plan to nix the need to vote on raising the debt ceiling could face opposition from Republicans. Conservatives in Congress regularly refuse to raise the debt ceiling unless it is paired with budget cuts.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Thursday rejected the idea of eliminating Congress’ need to vote on raising the debt ceiling.
“There’s a legitimate rule for the power of the purse in Article 1 powers, and that’s something we defend here in Congress,” he said at a press conference Thursday.
