As the US inches closer and closer to a projected default deadline, progressives in Congress have an increasingly pointed message for President Joe Biden: Don’t write off tackling the debt ceiling alone.
Those calls center on Biden invoking the 14th Amendment, which states that the “validity of the public debt of the United States … shall not be questioned,” a provision that some legal scholars argue would enable him to address the national debt on his own.
Sunday, Biden said the White House likely has the authority to go this route — but also highlighted a central issue with that approach.
“I’m looking at the 14th Amendment as to whether or not we have the authority — I think we have the authority,” Biden said at a press briefing in Japan. “The question is, could it be done and invoked in time that it would not be appealed, and as a consequence pass the date in question and still default on the debt. That is a question that I think is unresolved.”
Progressives argue that invoking the 14th Amendment is worth considering because a potential deal with Republicans could involve drastic cuts to key social programs, and because a compromise emboldens the GOP strategy of insisting on policy concessions in exchange for their support on raising the debt ceiling. Some progressives also worry that House Republicans can’t actually deliver the votes needed to raise the ceiling.
In a Politico interview, progressive Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) acknowledged invocation of the 14th Amendment could potentially lead to court challenges and market instability, but said “those are bridges that we can cross when we get to [them].” The White House seems less willing to figure out how to overcome the strategy’s issues on the fly, however. One White House adviser told Politico in a Saturday story the option has not been completely ruled out, but that it’s not “currently part of the plan.”
The divide underscores some of the long-simmering tensions…
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