DALLAS — GOP leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives have been promising to unveil their budget for weeks, but so far, no specific details have been released publicly.
And now, some House Republicans, including North Texas Congressman Keith Self, argue that it’s more important to settle the debt ceiling debate before finalizing a budget blueprint.
“We need to be working now on the negotiations. I think we’re behind now. I think the Republican party needs to be putting positions on the table and saying this is our position on the debt ceiling discussion. So, I think the debt ceiling discussion is much more important to me and I think to the entire Republican conference,” the lawmaker told us.
Self, like other House Republicans who’ve appeared on Inside Texas Politics, says spending must be brought under control, though he adds that it’s still not clear what exactly that means, as everyone has opinions about where those cuts would come from.
He thinks it should include pulling back COVID funding, clawing back the IRS funding bump, taking back any student loan forgiveness promises and getting rid of “slush funds” that have not been used in several years.
The Republican says those moves could save several trillion dollars over the next decade.
“The budget has almost taken a back seat to the debt ceiling discussion because what we are debating now is what we are going to ask for, what we are going to demand, what we are going to negotiate with the White House on the debt ceiling increase,” the Congressman explained on Inside Texas Politics.
In our wide ranging interview, the Republican lawmaker also reacted to the indictment of President Donald Trump, who recently pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges related to falsifying business records.
“I think he will remain in the race. Listen, Donald Trump sucks up all the oxygen out of any media room there is. And he’s also raised, I think, $10 Million since that announcement was made. So, certainly I think he will stay in the race,” said Self.
And Congressman Self says he wants to see the exact wording in any bill that would ban the social media app TikTok in the United States.
He argues that lawmakers have to be very careful not to tread on any First Amendment rights. But on the other hand, he argues the country needs to start pushing back on the spying he says is done through TikTok, which is owned by a Chinese company.
“If you remember the conversation with the TikTok CEO, somebody used the word spying and he said, 'well I won’t characterize that,' or words to that affect. Well that means to me, you know, if it looks like a duck and it walks like duck, it’s probably a duck,” the lawmaker said.