This is how Trump turned the politics of the debt ceiling upside down
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On the heels of President Trump and Democratic leaders’ deal last week, Congress and the president on Friday enacted a bill to suspend the debt limit, allowing the Treasury Department to issue more debt to meet its obligations.
Such votes are not unusual: Congress has raised or suspended the debt ceiling 79 times since 1960, and every president since Harry S. Truman has signed into law at least one such bill. What was unusual about last week’s votes was this: Democrats provided the lion’s share of votes for the bill — reversing a long-standing pattern. The burden of raising the debt ceiling has historically fallen on the party in power