'A constitutional crisis': Janet Yellen warns against using 14th Amendment to end debt limit fight
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned against President Joe Biden invoking the 14th amendment to end debt limit brinksmanship and said such a move could result in a “constitutional crisis.”
“There is no way to protect our financial system and our economy other than Congress doing its job and raising the debt ceiling and enabling us to pay our bills,” Yellen said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” reiterating her stance that Congress is the only authority able to raise the debt ceiling.
“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.”
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How could the 14th Amendment break the debt limit standoff?
Section Four of the 14th Amendment states the “validity of the public debt of the United States ... shall not be questioned.” That language, some advocates of invoking the 14th Amendment say, allows the president to raise the debt ceiling on his own, because it would be unconstitutional otherwise for the government to stop paying its debts.
Congress has always voted to raise the debt limit, so it is unclear how alternative options such as invoking the 14th Amendment would play out.
“There are simply no good options,” Yellen said. “We will have an economic and financial catastrophe that will be of our own making, and there is no action that President Biden and the U.S. Treasury can take to prevent that catastrophe.”
Go deeper: Can Biden declare the debt ceiling unconstitutional? The 14th Amendment explained
Yellen: Debt ceiling negotiations should not have 'a gun to the head of the American people'
Biden is set to meet Tuesday with the top four congressional leaders from both parties: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Talks on raising the debt ceiling between Biden and McCarthy have stalled since their last meeting in February, but after Yellen announced the government could run out of cash to pay its bills as early as June 1, there is a new sense of urgency in Washington.
Even then, though, Democrats and Republicans appear to be unwavering in their positions. Congressional Republicans have pressured Biden for spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. The White House and congressional Democrats have said they are open to spending discussions but are calling for a clean debt ceiling increase, separate from budget talks.
Yellen echoed Democrats’ sentiments and said any negotiations should not take place “with a gun to the head of the American people.”