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Article snippet: WASHINGTON — President Trump started his day on Thursday publicly criticizing leaders of his own party for not advancing his legislative agenda, which the president called “so easy.” Mr. Trump said he asked Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, and Representative Paul Ryan, the House speaker, to include language about the debt ceiling in a recent Department of Veterans Affairs bill. “They didn’t do it so now we have a big deal with Dems holding them up (as usual) on Debt Ceiling approval,” Mr. Trump said in a pair of Twitter posts. Congress has until mid-October to raise the legal borrowing limit or the United States could risk defaulting on its debt obligations. A White House official said on Thursday that Mr. Trump was specifically referring to a bill to extend emergency funding to the multibillion-dollar Veterans Choice program, which pays for veterans to receive care from private doctors if they face long wait times or travel distances. Congressional aides said on Thursday that there had indeed been a short-lived effort late last month to tie the debt ceiling language to the Choice bill. But with the veterans’ program set to run out of money by mid-August, apparent opposition from conservative budget hard-liners and a congressional recesses looming, the idea was never given serious consideration. The Choice legislation ultimately passed both the House and the Senate unanimously, shortly before each chamber began its summer recess. Mr. Trump signed it ... Link to the full article to read more