Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) became the latest GOP presidential candidate to come out in opposition to the debt limit bill brokered by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and President Joe Biden over the weekend.
Scott was adamant he didn't support the deal. "The short answer is no," Scott said in an interview with Axios. "I think Kevin did a good job of figuring out how to negotiate with someone who did not want to negotiate."
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"The question I ask myself was at the end of the negotiations, is it in our best interests as a nation to allow Joe Biden, someone we cannot trust on spending, to have an open checkbook, no limit on the credit card until the end of his term? And my answer is no," Scott told the outlet.
The senator also took issue with work requirements for those who receive food assistance from the federal government. The deal calls for able-bodied adults aged 18-54 without children to work 80 hours a month in order to receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for more than three months in a three-year time span. "My mother taught me one thing that was really important after a 16-hour shift. There's dignity in work, and to not have every able-bodied person going back to work as a part of the deal is something that I just don't support," he said.
Other Senate Republicans have begun to oppose the bill, including Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN). "This debt ceiling deal makes our current bloated spending levels the new baseline going forward, setting us further down the path to financial ruin. We need deep spending cuts, and Congress shouldn’t get paid until we deliver a real budget that seriously addresses our massive debt," he tweeted on Wednesday. "There’s more drama here than usual, but sadly, the play is going to end the same way: the big spenders in both parties getting together to increase the size of the federal government. "
Scott's response is similar to 2024 rival Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who came out in opposition to the deal on Monday. “Our country was careening toward bankruptcy, and after this deal, our country will still be careening toward bankruptcy," the governor told Fox & Friends.
Fellow South Carolinian and presidential hopeful Nikki Haley denounced the deal as well on Tuesday as well as slamming DeSantis and former President Donald Trump for supporting a 2018 debt limit bill. "Adding at least $4 trillion to America’s $31 trillion national debt over two years without substantially cutting spending is no way to run our country’s fiscal affairs. Business as usual won’t get the job done," said Haley.
Curiously, Trump has remained mostly quiet on the McCarthy-Biden debt limit bill, a factor that is helpful to McCarthy as he and his allies work hard to muscle the bill through the House.
Scott, later on in the interview, wavered on a question about supporting a six-week abortion ban, a factor that some anti-abortion conservative groups have called for and which DeSantis has supported by signing into law in Florida.
"What I've said consistently is I believe life has intrinsic value because it comes from God," Scott said. "I am 100% pro-life conservative. I have a 100% pro-life voting record."
Eventually, Scott said he would support a 15-week abortion ban. "I've said on the campaign trail a dozen times if I were president of the United States, I would certainly have a 15-week limit. Seventy-two percent of Americans agree with that position," he said. "I don't think any state should be allowed to have abortions up until the day of birth."
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But he conceded that abortion has been a political cudgel for Republicans with the public.
"You have to tell the American people the truth. Even the 15-week limit is not possible unless we change the hearts and minds of the American people because we can't get through Congress," he continued. "The current Congress today won't even pass a 20-week limit. Therefore, the conversation about how conservative you can go at the federal level is inconsequential if we don't figure out how to change the hearts and minds of the American people."