Republican presidential hopeful Dr. Ben Carson had some choice words for congressional lawmakers who favor lifting the current debt ceiling to expand existing limitations on how much the federal government can borrow.
“We always end up in the same situation,” Carson told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Friday, referring to the debt-ceiling fight. “There are some 695 federal agencies and they all have budgets, but our backs are still up against the wall.”
“It’s the same crap every year,” he added.
The retired neurosurgeon, who risen to second place in the GOP field behind front-runner Donald Trump and holds the No. 2 spot in the Washington Examiner’s presidential power rankings, also told Mitchell that Congress wouldn’t be having to debate the federal government spending and the national debt if he were currently serving in the Oval Office.
“If I was president, we wouldn’t be in this situation because long before we reached a deadline, I would have said we’re not going to raise the debt limit,” he said.
Carson added, “I wouldn’t have signed anything that, in any way, would have increased our obligations.”
Congress was set to begin deliberating spending levels for fiscal year 2016 and the debt ceiling this week, but House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s sudden withdrawal from the race for House speaker Thursday have since caused a delay.
