$28,841,673,978,652
The Ben Ferguson Podcast
iHeartPodcasts
4.8 • 5.4K Ratings
🗓️ 8 October 2021
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The fight to raise the debt ceiling is at the center of Washington politics as Biden and his minions demand we spend every more, increasing the colossal 28 TRILLION dollars that is already our national debt. Because virtually nobody, even Michael Knowles, can keep up with this mess, Senator Cruz steps away from the chambers to answer the most pressing questions. What is the debt ceiling? Why does it matter? What happens if the United States defaults on its debt? One thing is certain, Washington is playing with fire. If you want even more behind-the-scenes access to the debates that are shaping our nation, join Michael and the Senator on their upcoming LIVE tour with Young America's Foundation. Find out how you can attend at https://yaf.org/verdictlive.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | 28 trillion, 841,673,9752,9752. That is the national debt of the United States. |
| 0:15.0 | Democrats want to add a lot more money even to that colossal number. And the fight over raising the U.S. debt ceiling |
| 0:24.1 | is the epicenter of what's going on in Washington right now. President Joe Biden demanding |
| 0:31.0 | that Republican senators get out of the way that they use this opportunity to push through |
| 0:36.8 | the most radical aspects of their agenda |
| 0:39.7 | and using the debt ceiling crisis to do it. What happens if the United States defaults on its |
| 0:47.1 | debt? It's never happened before. We have no idea what will happen now. Washington playing with |
| 0:52.7 | fire. This is Verdict with Ted Cruz. |
| 1:00.5 | Welcome back to Verdict with Ted Cruz. I'm Michael Knowles, and I have a whole lot of questions here. |
| 1:06.4 | Senator, we'll get right into it. Very simply, I hate to ask a stupid question, but even I, and I pay a lot of attention to these things, even I don't quite understand what this is. What is the debt ceiling? Why does the debt ceiling matter? Why do the debt ceiling fights come up every few years? And what happens if we do not raise the debt ceiling and default on our |
| 1:30.1 | debt? Well, probably the easiest way to think about it is, is like it's the limit on your credit |
| 1:34.8 | card. The debt ceiling is the cap on how much money the federal government can pass. And it's a |
| 1:41.4 | statutory limit that's passed into law that limits how much the United States government |
| 1:47.1 | can borrow, just like if you have a credit card that has a $10,000 limit, you can't borrow $11,000. |
| 1:53.7 | And if you want to borrow more than $10,000, you have to get on the phone and try to ask them |
| 1:57.7 | to raise it to $15 or raise it to $ 20. That's the same principle as the debt ceiling. |
| 2:02.7 | It is a tool designed to try to force Congress to confront spending |
| 2:09.0 | and to rein in out of control spending and out of control debt. |
| 2:13.2 | And the debt ceiling expired on July 31st, the end of July. |
| 2:19.8 | Now, the Department of Treasury has the ability to kind of push the date when the U.S. needs |
| 2:27.2 | to borrow back a couple of months. |
| 2:29.7 | It's called using extraordinary measures. |
... |
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