The Debt Could Be Trump's First Issue In Office

While president-elect Donald Trump promised to do many things on day one, dealing of the debt may very well become his first issue.

Trump, during the campaign trail in 2024, repeatedly promised to his voters two essential things on day one: drill baby drill and close the border. These are very ambitious policy changes that may provide varying consequences on the country. However, one thing is certain: these will not actually be his first policy changes.

Why is the debt going to be his first policy change? There are many reasons for this. First was the government shutdown crisis in December, where Congress was too split to agree on a spending issue to tackle the debt ceiling. In the end, after much bickering between President Biden and his colleagues, and Speaker Johnson and his colleagues, a final resolution was enacted to postpone talks of federal spending until March, right at the first 100 days of the Trump presidency. As a result, especially with the debt issue looming large, Trump will need to design an effective spending policy quickly to Congress to prevent another government shutdown, like in his first term.

Second is that he will inherit the worst debt crisis in the nation's history. With a national debt far surpassing $35 trillion, almost double the GDP of the nation as a whole, Trump is expected to inherit yet another threat to the debt limit. Even treasury secretary Janet Yellen expressed her concerns just this week, saying how the country will need to act quickly in January, right at the start of Trump's term. With the debt issue falling right under his inauguration, he will essentially need to enact fiscal policy as his first policy change over any other thing, like the border or oil production.

How will he tackle the debt crisis? This is, for now, very uncertain. Trump's initial plan of lowering costs failed in the House after numerous proposals to his Republican allies failed in the vote tally. He will need to enact a policy change like this if he would want to make meaningful change in the debt.

He will face the grand problem of the Congress. With Republicans expected to have very slim majorities in both chambers, it is evident that it will be difficult to get any policies implemented, meaning compromise which may not produce as desirable an outcome as he may want. He will need to act quickly, and persuasively, in order to get things done.

He might want to tackle spending in government services, as well as waste (which his DOGE agency will also help him tackle), possibly jacking funding from many government agencies, but less likely healthcare or social security (two things he promised not to touch during his 2024 campaign). He may want to reduce military spending reluctantly, as it may be the only thing he could do without getting heavy criticism.