Former New Mexico governor and Republican presidential candidate Gary Johnson says he would not raise the debt ceiling despite what he believes is an inevitable fiscal meltdown. Johnson also said Monday on Fox News that the only way to resolve the crisis is a constitutional amendment balancing the budget.
“The opportunity here is to stop printing money — so, I wouldn`t raise the debt ceiling,” Johnson told Fox News’ Neal Cavuto. “And for all the chaos that will ensue, all the problems that will go along with this — and I don’t want to minimize that — this is something we could deal with now, as opposed to later.
“And I’m in the camp that believes we are going to have a monetary collapse,” Johnson said. “And that will be the bond market that collapses, simply because there`s no repaying $14 trillion in debt, given our current deficit this year — last year, the year before, years going forward.”
Johnson told Cavuto that raising the debt ceiling is not the answer.
“Well, been there, done that — how many times have we have seen that played out in our lifetimes — I can’t tell you how many times I have seen that play out,” he said. “Republicans control the House — look, Republicans may not control anything in the future — this is certainty — the certainty is we could actually bring this to bear now.
“And by bringing this to bear, stop printing money and deal with a balanced budget now, as opposed to what I just think will be calamitous down the road,” Johnson said.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.