Yellen: 14th Amendment would be ‘legally questionable’ to raise debt ceiling

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday that using the 14th Amendment to end the debt ceiling standoff would be ‘legally questionable,’ as the White House’s talks with Congressional Republicans drag on. 

Yellen appeared at a press conference in Niigata, Japan and was asked if President Joe Biden could unilaterally lift the debt limit using the 14th Amendment, which says ‘the validity of the public debt, authorized by law…shall not be questioned.’

Some legal scholars believe this means the Treasury Department could keep borrowing money after the current $31.4 trillion debt limit is hit – a deadline that could come as early as June 1. 

‘What I would say, it’s legally questionable whether or not that’s a viable strategy,’ Yellen told reporters. 

Biden expressed similar reservations when discussing the option with journalists Tuesday night. 

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday that using the 14th Amendment to end the debt ceiling standoff would be ‘legally questionable’

Biden expressed similar reservations about using the 14th Amendment when discussing the option with journalists Tuesday night

‘I have been considering the 14th Amendment,’ Biden said. ‘But the problem is it would have to be litigated and in the meantime, without an extension, it would still end up in the same place.’ 

‘I’ll be very blunt with you, we get by this I’m thinking about taking a look at, months down the road, just to see what the courts would say whether or not it does work,’ the president added. 

On Tuesday, Biden hosted the four Congressional leaders – House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell – to the White House for a meeting, in which the little progress that was made came in the agreement that there would be another meeting. 

Biden and the Congressional leaders are expected to gather at the White House again sometime Friday. 

For months, the president has said he wanted Congress to pass a ‘clean’ debt ceiling bill. 

Instead, House Republicans passed a bill that included sweeping spending cuts.  

That bill is dead upon arrival in the Senate. 

With the clock ticking, Yellen said she’d looked into more creative options – including the 14th Amendment, prioritizing interest payments or minting a $1 trillion coin, and said they were all risky.

‘I’m often asked questions – if the debt ceiling is not raised, what would you do,’ she said. ‘And I don’t want to go there and discuss alternatives. There are choices to be made, if we got into that situation. But as you think about each possible thing that we could do, the answer is there is no good alternative that will save us from catastrophe.’ 

Yellen repeated her personal position that she would like to see the debt ceiling eliminated or the current system of raising it using legislation drastically changed. 

‘I don’t think that’s any way to run the government and so, there are a variety of alternatives and my own preference would be not to go through this every couple of years,’ Yellen said. 

Biden has previously said he doesn’t support eliminating the debt ceiling.  

One revision Yellen floated was to allow the president to raise the debt limit and then inform Congress, allowing lawmakers to block the move if they wished.