Unless I'm mistaken, Ted Cruz has the distinction of being the only presidential candidate currently calling for a government shutdown and playing a game of chicken with the debt ceiling.
"Of course" Republicans shouldn't agree to raise the debt ceiling, Cruz says.
via RollCall
“Of course Republicans should not agree to give Barack Obama and Harry Reid trillions more in debt with no spending reforms whatsoever. That shouldn’t be a complicated question,” he said in the interview. “Every single Republican campaigned telling their constituents they would fight to stop the out-of-control spending that is bankrupting our kids and grandkids.” [...]
“If I were to affirmatively consent to allow Barack Obama and Harry Reid to add trillions in debt while doing nothing, zero, about the underlying spending problem, it would be both unfaithful and dishonest to the men and women who elected me,” Cruz said in the interview.
I'm sure I don't need to tell you, but President Obama and Harry Reid cannot personally "add trillions in debt" even if they wanted to. Harry Reid isn't even the goddamn majority leader of the Senate.
Even if Cruz had said he won't allow Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to "add trillions in debt," it would still be a misnomer. The debt ceiling is increased to pay for spending Congress has already authorized, including any spending Ted Cruz himself may have voted for.
While a government shutdown could occur at the end of September, default on the debt ceiling could occur near the end of October.