Clyburn: Eliminating debt ceiling only area 'I really agree with Donald Trump on'

Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Tuesday that eliminating the debt ceiling is the only area “I really agree with Donald Trump on.”

“We should do away with it altogether,” Clyburn told CNN’s John Berman on “CNN News Central."

“That may be the only area that I really agree with Donald Trump on," he added.

Last month, Trump said that he supports getting rid of the debt ceiling, or at very least, extending it until 2029. The issue was a major talking point during government spending discussions last month, as a shutdown deadline loomed.

The president-elect also told NBC News in a recent interview that the "smartest thing" lawmakers could do is abolish the debt limit.

“The Democrats have said they want to get rid of it. If they want to get rid of it, I would lead the charge,” Trump told the outlet in a phone interview.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Tuesday that members of his party in Congress plan to raise the U.S.’s debt limit in a large party-line bill that they are crafting that will encapsulate the president-elect’s agenda.

Republicans’ plan targets Trump's worry that Democrats could use the debt limit as a leveraging point when he returns to the Oval Office. GOP lawmakers plan to pass a bill that would bypass the 60-vote threshold needed in the Senate for passage under a process called reconciliation.

“The intention is to handle the debt limit in reconciliation in the process, and that way, as the Republican Party, the party in charge of both chambers, we get to determine the details of that,” Johnson said at a press conference.

Trump has pressed Republicans to push his priorities through with "one powerful bill," though signaled he would be open to a two-bill package if necessary.

In his CNN interview Tuesday, Clyburn said that he has been “advocating” the debt ceiling’s elimination “now for 20 years, maybe even more.”

“I do believe that we [are the] only country, at least developed country on Earth, that is still dealing … with this debt ceiling business,” the South Carolina Democrat added.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has also been an advocate for eliminating the debt limit.

The Hill has reached out to the Trump transition team for comment.