Debt Ceiling Crisis: Bernie Sanders Says Republican Hypocrisy On National Debt Stinks To High Heaven — 'Give Me A Break'

As the debt ceiling stand-off continues with President Joe Biden refusing to negotiate on the plan passed by the House Republicans, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) reportedly said the Republican hypocrisy on the national debt “stinks to high heaven.”

What Happened: “Give me a break,” Sanders tweeted.

"While they are talking about their deep concern about the national debt, which is an issue, and the deficit, which is an issue, you know what else they want to do? They want to repeal the estate tax,” Sanders told CNN.

He added, “The estate tax, if they got their way, would be a $1.8 trillion tax break to the top 1/10th of 1%. And they are staying up nights worrying so much about government spending. It's hypocrisy."

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"Look, these guys are consistent. They take their money from big money interests and they continue their war against working families and low income people. So, we will do what we can to fight that," he added.

On being asked if he would be willing to let the country go into default rather than negotiate with the Republicans on some spending cuts, Sanders said there would be no negotiations over whether or not “we are going to pay our bills.”

"And by the way, part of the debt was accumulated under Donald Trump. They voted for it. And Trump, among others, Reagan, among others said, ‘Of course, you got to pay your debt, you can't default,'" Sanders said.

Last week, the House of Representatives had narrowly passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling that includes significant spending cuts over the next decade. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy had escalated demands that the president and Democrats resolve the debt-ceiling crisis by accepting the plan.

Sanders pointed out that if the government defaults on the debt it would not just impact the American economy, but would send ripples across the world.

"You understand, I know you do, what a default would mean to the American economy and to the world's economy. We cannot allow that to happen. That is what the president means when he says it's not negotiable. Can we negotiate budgets? Of course. We are going to have to do that," Sanders asserted.

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