Biden opens door to use 14th amendment to solving debt crisis

President Joe Biden said on Sunday he would consider using the 14th Amendment to fix the US debt limit, but admitted it is likely too close to the standard June 1 deadline to use it in this round.

“I look at the 14th Amendment as if we have the authority or not,” he said at a news conference in Hiroshima.

“I think we have the authority. The question is whether it can be done in time and it can be invoked that no appeal is lodged and as a result the relevant date is exceeded and the debt is still in default?’

Biden said he would be open to exploring the option in the courts to see if they would declare it legal or not.

The president had previously ruled out that the constitutional amendment – which some legal scholars say contains a clause that would make it unconstitutional for the US to default on its debts – would be used to raise the debt ceiling.

Biden also accused Republicans of trying to stop debt talks to hurt his re-election bid, admitted he might be able to stop them from defaulting, and said he will step in to settle one-on-one with speaker Kevin McCarthe. An.

During his press conference, Biden spoke harshly for the Republicans, criticizing them for taking an “extreme position” in the talks, and said he would speak with Air Force One’s McCarthy as he flew home from Japan.

“I suspect he wants to deal directly with me to make sure we’re all on the same wavelength,” Biden said of McCarthy, adding that he believed compromise remained within reach.

“I hope Speaker McCarthy is waiting to negotiate with me when I get home. …I’m waiting to find out.

The White House had accused House Republicans of taking the talks backwards by refusing their offer to cut spending and instead making what Democrats call outrageous demands for the federal budget to be cut.

Biden, announcing he is seeking a second term in office, indicated he believes politics are involved.

He said that if the nation defaults, “Biden would take the blame and that’s one way to make sure Biden doesn’t get re-elected.”

He called on Republicans to compromise.

It is time for the Republicans to accept that there is no agreement between two parties that can only be made – exclusively – in their turn and on their terms. They also have to move,” he said.

He also expressed some annoyance with the other party, saying he “cannot guarantee they would force a default by doing something outrageous.”

Past debt negotiations took a turn for the worse as the White House accused Republicans of taking a “big step back” by rejecting their offer and McCarthy said talks were on hold until Biden returned from Japan.

Both sides have accused the other of negotiating in bad faith as the clock ticks toward the June 1 deadline to raise the country’s borrowing limit, now at $31 trillion, so the United States can pay its bills. Otherwise, it will default on its debt.

A war of words broke out over the weekend as meetings between the two negotiating teams were canceled, rescheduled, only to be canceled again.

On Saturday, McCarthy said it was the White House that stood firm and talks were suspended until Biden returned.

“Unfortunately, the White House went downhill,” McCarthy told reporters on Capitol Hill on Saturday. “I don’t think we’ll be able to move forward until the president can come back.”

“Only from the last day to today have they deteriorated. They actually want to spend more money than we spend this year,” McCarthy said of the talks.

The White House, which had taken a hopeful tone that a deal was in the works, released a pessimistic statement accusing Republicans of backing down and favoring a default over a deal.

“The Speaker’s team tabled an offer that was a major step backwards and contained a series of extreme partisan demands that could never get through either House of Congress,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. in the statement.

“Only a Republican leadership beholden to its MAGA wing — not the president or the Democratic leadership — threatens to default our country for the first time in our history unless extreme partisan demands are met,” she said.

Republicans turned down an offer from the Biden administration that would have kept both non-defense and defense spending flat next year compared to fiscal year 2023, according to reports.

McCarthy said he wants to cut non-defense spending compared to what was spent in previous years.

Democrats argue that keeping those numbers the same amounts to an effective reduction due to inflation, at a rate of up to 5%.

The White House argued that, with inflation, that would equate to a 5% cut in spending.

President Biden has appointed a negotiating team and has been in regular contact with them while he is in Japan. The White House said earlier Sunday that those negotiators are ready to meet with McCarthy’s team at any time.

“Let’s be clear: the president’s team is ready to meet at any moment,” Jean-Pierre said in her statement.

Both parties are fighting over budget cuts. Republicans are demanding them in exchange for raising the debt limit.

House Republicans passed a bill that would roll back spending to the 2022 fiscal level and impose a 1% cap for the next 10 years. But it was dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

The White House has dismissed the GOP demands as too extreme, but has expressed a willingness to make some cuts.

But as talks have broken down, attacks have intensified.

“Republicans are holding the economy hostage and pushing us to the brink of bankruptcy, which could cost millions of jobs and plunge the country into recession after two years of steady growth in jobs and wages,” White House communications director Ben LaBolt said. Saturday in a statement. .

“It was a bad day for negotiations,” Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson, an ally of McCarthy, told me. Axiosadding that a “lack of seriousness” from the White House “undermined the progress we made on Wednesday and Thursday.”

With Republicans holding only a five-seat majority in the House and Democrats controlling the Senate, any deal must be bipartisan.

To get there, the cuts must be significant enough to be accepted by conservative Republicans, but also acceptable to Democrats, who hold the Senate and likely need to garner between 50 and 100 votes in the House.

Republicans want to increase defense spending in the 2024 federal budget in addition to spending cuts.

Democrats are advocating for social programs, education and health care to bear the brunt of budget cuts. The progressive wing of the Democratic Party would not support that.

In addition, Republicans have refused to reverse Trump-era tax breaks for businesses and wealthy households, as Biden has proposed.