“The president wanted to have a deal. He thought it was very important to put the interests of the American public above politics," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. | Carolyn Kaster/AP Mnuchin: 'I'm comfortable' with fiscal deal Trump struck with Dems

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin acknowledged on Thursday that he would prefer to raise the debt ceiling for more than three months, but he said he is “comfortable” with the deal President Donald Trump struck with Democrats on Wednesday.

“As Treasury secretary, I'd rather have a longer deal, but I'm comfortable with this,” Mnuchin told Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business Network. “The president wanted to have a deal. He thought it was very important to put the interests of the American public above politics.”


“And that's why he wanted to cut a deal to clear out the next 90 days and focus on the funding for Harvey, so we no longer have to worry about funding the government at the end of this month,” he added. “That's a major accomplishment, and for the first time we had a bipartisan agreement walking out of there. I think that's a big step in the right direction.”

Republicans, reportedly including Mnuchin, had been pushing to raise the debt ceiling for 18 months. But in an Oval Office meeting Wednesday, Trump overruled them and agreed to an offer from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to increase it and fund the government for three months.

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The group also agreed on providing disaster relief aid for people affected by Hurricane Harvey.

Trump praised the agreement in a speech in North Dakota on Wednesday afternoon, but Republicans in Congress are reportedly furious and see the deal as giving Democrats more leverage in future negotiations.

In a gaggle with reporters on Air Force One en route to the Wednesday speech, Trump referred to the meeting as “a very good meeting with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer” — not Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell or House Speaker Paul Ryan — and noted that “always we'll agree on debt ceiling automatically because of the importance of it.”

