Some House Republicans on Friday left a private meeting with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin angered by the lack of information about the nation’s borrowing plans.
“I am incredulous @stevenmnuchin1 refused to answer the question of what debt limit will be in Dec.,” Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., head of the Republican Study Committee, the largest conservative faction in the House, said on Twitter after the meeting. “House about to vote! We need this info.”
Mnuchin, a former hedge fund manager and film producer, rubbed many conservatives the wrong way in the meeting by essentially ordering them to back a debt ceiling increase, without revealing how much more borrowing the government will do between now and the Dec. 8, when borrowing authority expires again.
According to one Republican, who requested anonymity, Mnuchin told the GOP, “I’m running the government like a piggy bank.”
Republicans wanted Mnuchin to tell them where the debt would be by December, when the next vote in Congress will be needed.
Mnuchin told lawmakers he was withholding the December debt limit number from them “for strategic reasons,” according to the source. Republicans were unhappy with his answer.
“The members want some sort of certainty, what’s the real date, what’s the real number here so we can plan appropriately,” the source said.
The meeting took place shortly before the House voted on a hurricane disaster relief package coupled with a three-month suspension of the debt ceiling, which will let the government borrow as much as it needs until Dec. 8.
“The mentality of a New York financial broker is that the stability of the markets is good,” a source familiar with the meeting told the Washington Examiner, recounting the exchange between Mnuchin and GOP members. “But members of Congress, in Washington, are concerned with governing, keeping spending within our means and being fiscally responsible.”
Some lawmakers described Mnuchin as “arrogant” and “lecturing.” But the source suggested Mnuchin simply failed to make a connection with lawmakers.
Many Republicans oppose raising the debt limit, now hovering at $20 trillion, unless it is accompanied by spending reform. The measure passed Friday excludes spending reform.
The final tally Friday included 90 GOP no votes, including some Texans.
Republicans are becoming increasingly wary of the Treasury’s borrowing demands, even under GOP control, because they believe the deadlines set for raising the debt limit are not entirely truthful.
In this instance, Mnuchin said he needed an increase in the debt ceiling by Sept. 29, but some Republicans questioned whether money would really run out by then.
Joel Gehrke contributed to this report
