ON WHETHER THE US WILL DEFAULT ON ITS DEBT:
CARTER: "Let me be clear: we are not going to default. We are going to pay our bills. We've always done that and we're gonna get this passed. Listen...this is one of our top priorities is to limit spending and to grow our economy and to save taxpayers' money, that's exactly what we're going to do."
ON WASHINGTON DEMOCRATS' CALL FOR BIDEN TO START NEGOTIATING:
CARTER: "[ T ]here have been a number of Democrats who have expressed concern that the President is not negotiating. Debbie Dingle, Greg Landsman, Joe Manchin, Amy Klobuchar, all of them have said that the President needs to be negotiating. I mean Senator Biden negotiated, Vice President Biden negotiated. Why isn't President Biden negotiating?"
ON WASHINGTON DEMOCRATS' SCHEME TO RAISE THE DEBT CEILING:
KERNAN: "Congressman Carter, why not do a clean raise...?"
CARTER: "[ T ]he only time anyone pays attention to the national debt is when we get up against the debt limit...We have maxed out on our credit cards we have got to stop the spending. Washington D.C. does not have a revenue problem, they have a spending problem, and we've got to address that spending problem."
ON COMBATTING CHINA:
CARTER: "[ W ]e're playing into China's hands because of the Green New Deal policies that the Democrats have tried to enact...That's why we've got to unleash American energy, so that we're not dependent on China, not dependent on Russia for our energy needs."
ON FISCAL REPONSIBILITY:
CARTER: "Americans are tired of us printing money in Washington, D.C. without having money in the bank. They want to see us be stewards of the American taxpayers' money. That's what we're supposed to be in Congress...Think of all the things that we could do if we did not have to pay the interest on the debt of $32 trillion...We've got to stop this out-of-control spending...that's why 54% of all Americans say 'Don't raise the debt ceiling. Stop this madness.'"
Watch the full interview here.
