President-elect Donald Trump took credit Thursday for defeating House Republicans’ proposed government funding bill, telling ABC News that there will be a government shutdown unless Congress passes the cap extend the national debt or abolish the debt ceiling completely.

“We are not going to get caught in the quicksand of the debt ceiling,” Trump said in an exclusive telephone interview. “As long as the debt ceiling is not reached, nothing will be approved.”

Trump said he was concerned that an economic depression could occur if the national debt reached the limit set by the debt ceiling. Under current law, the federal government would reach its borrowing limit sometime in the spring of 2025, in the first months of the second Trump presidency. Trump said he wants the matter resolved now, while Joe Biden is president.

“By doing what I’m doing, I’m bringing it into the Biden administration,” Trump said. “In this government, not in my government.”

“The interesting thing is that (the debt ceiling) may mean nothing, or it may mean (the) 1929 depression,” Trump added. “Nobody really knows. It means nothing, but psychologically it can mean a lot, right? In other words, it has no real meaning other than violating some history, otherwise it could lead to the Depression of 1929 and no one but the Democrats want to take the risk.

Congress must pass a funding bill by Friday evening to prevent a shutdown of critical federal services.

Trump said he was more concerned about the debt ceiling, which was not part of the spending bill rejected by the House on Wednesday following comments from Trump and his ally Elon Musk, than about the level of government spending.

“I don’t mind the spending on farmers and North Carolina disaster relief and so on, but that’s all,” he said, referring to $100 billion in disaster relief and $10 billion in assistance for farmers .

When asked about concerns about a possible shutdown, the president-elect reiterated that a shutdown will occur if the debt ceiling is not met, claiming that it is Biden’s fault.

“Shutdowns only hurt the person who is president,” Trump said. “That’s what I tried to convey to Kevin McCarthy (former House Speaker), but I obviously didn’t do a very good job with a shutdown because he kept giving them expansions into my territory. A shutdown will only hurt or harm the person.” Who happens to be president?

Regarding the fate of House Speaker Mike Johnson, Trump said: “If he’s strong, he’ll survive. If he’s strong, he’ll survive.”