As yet another battle looms between Republicans and Democrats over the debt ceiling, a new piece of potential leverage has been floated - using the 14th Amendment as a last-ditch effort to avoid default.
The amendment, aimed primarily at extending the Bill of Rights liberties to former slaves, includes a section which states that "the validity of the public debt of the United States … shall not be questioned," with the implication that it would allow President Biden to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling.
When asked on Friday during an MSNBC interview whether this option is on the table, Biden didn't say no - just that we've "not gotten there yet."
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, however, said that relying on the 14th Amendment would create a "constitutional crisis."
"There is no way to protect our financial system in our economy, other than Congress doing its job and raising the debt ceiling and enabling us to pay our bills and we should not get to the point where we need to consider whether the President can go on issuing debt. This would be a constitutional crisis," she told ABC's "This Week."
That said, she also didn't rule it out.
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https://www.zerohedge.com/political/desperate-dems-float-14th-amendment-debt-ceiling-override
Replies
They don't want to be blamed for the US defaulting on our debt. Otherwise they could care less about the people.