The Love Continues...

Trump attacks McConnell, Ryan over debt ceiling

By POLITICO STAFF

President Donald Trump on Thursday blamed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan for creating a “mess” on the debt ceiling, saying they rebuffed his request to raise the country’s debt limit as part of a veterans bill.

Mitch McConnell

“I requested that Mitch M & Paul R tie the Debt Ceiling legislation into the popular V.A. Bill (which just passed) for easy approval,” Trump tweeted. “They didn't do it so now we have a big deal with Dems holding them up (as usual) on Debt Ceiling approval. Could have been so easy-now a mess!”

The president then went after McConnell again for the Senate's failure to so far pass an Obamacare repeal-and-replace plan, tweeting, "The only problem I have with Mitch McConnell is that, after hearing Repeal & Replace for 7 years, he failed!That should NEVER have happened!"

The tweets represent the latest salvo from Trump, who has been hammering congressional Republicans for their failure so far to pass major items on his legislative agenda and for not doing more to cool the temperature around the Russia investigations.

He has especially tangled with McConnell, reaming him out in a phone call earlier this month, while the Senate majority leader later questioned Trump’s political acumen.

Both McConnell and the White House put out conciliatory statements on Wednesday, but Thursday’s attack underscores how difficult September will be, as Congress tries to avoid a government shutdown and debt default.