Biden Raising Debt Ceiling is 'Laughable' to Republicans, Not to Democrats

Republicans on Capitol Hill are not taking President Joe Biden seriously following his statement to reporters that he's "considering" utilizing the Constitution to bypass negotiations with House Republicans and raise the debt ceiling himself.

An untested legal theory argues that under the 14^th Amendment's Public Debt Clause, which states that the "validity" of the public debt "shall not be questioned," the president has the power to lift the debt limit without Congress. This action has never been taken before, and Republicans told Newsweek they doubt that Biden will be the first to try.

Texas Senator John Cornyn, a close ally of Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, called the prospect of Biden doing so "beyond laughable." Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri said he viewed Biden's statement as a "negotiating tactic," and added that he has a "hard time imagining a world in which he'd actually go ahead and do it."

"I think it's probably him talking out loud at this point," Senator Marco Rubio of Florida told Newsweek. "I'm not sure they have a plan. I'm not sure that he was even supposed to say that."

With Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warning that the country will run out of the cash necessary to pay its debts by June 1, America faces a possible default with potentially unprecedented ramifications. A default could prove disastrous for the nation's economy, with the financial intelligence firm Moody's Analytics warning that the country could face a "mild recession" and the loss of nearly 1 million jobs should an agreement not be reached.

The president's comment about invoking the 14^th Amendment offered a grim insight into the state of his negotiations with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, following a meeting between the two men that included McConnell, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries at the White House on Tuesday.

House Republicans refuse to lift the nation's borrowing limit and provide the funds necessary to pay off its debts until the president and the Democratic-controlled Senate agree to institute spending cuts aimed to lower the nation's almost $32 trillion deficit. Meanwhile, Democrats remain insistent on a "clean" debt limit with no spending changes, saying the broad cuts proposed by Republicans would harm vital programs.

In the aftermath of Tuesday's meeting, Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill are growing louder in their calls for the president to continue considering the 14^th Amendment as a viable possibility should the two parties fail to reach an agreement.

"I think [President Biden] has to look at all options," Democratic Senator Gary Peters of Michigan told Newsweek. "There's no question we just simply cannot default. People can't hold the American people hostage and hurt the American people if they don't get their way, so it's good to be looking at all the options."

Peters, who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is responsible for maintaining Democratic control in the upper chamber through 2024, did not express major concern that invoking the 14^th Amendment could hurt the party's standing with voters. The Michigan Democrat said if the untested action is ultimately found unconstitutional, he expects voters will "appreciate" the Constitution's authority.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, shared similar sentiments. While last week she told Newsweek that it was not yet time to "be talking about Plan B," Warren applauded the president's comments in the wake of the Tuesday meeting.

"The president is doing the right thing," Warren said. "The 14th Amendment is not a great answer. The great answer is to raise the debt ceiling, but we've got to find a way to break the stranglehold that the Republican hostage takers have put on our economy and our country."

The House GOP proposal agrees to lift the debt ceiling only if Congress introduces caps to keep increases to discretionary spending down to one percent each year for the next decade. The bill also aims to claw back unspent COVID-19 funds, cut funding for the hiring of new IRS agents and reform the energy permitting process, among other things.

Warren said in a tweet that the GOP proposal would cost the country 800,000 jobs while making it harder for seniors to access Social Security and offering protection to "wealthy tax cheats." Schumer has called the bill "dead on arrival" in the Senate, and echoed Biden's stance that Democrats would only agree to the passage of a "clean" debt limit bill that does not institute cuts, saying negotiations can commence when the country begins drafting its upcoming budget.

Each party's core remains aligned with the current positions of their respective leadership. However, moderates like Democratic Senator Joe Manchin have urged McCarthy and Biden to come together and reach a deal. Following the Tuesday meeting, he did not shoot down the idea of Biden invoking the 14^th Amendment.

"Just wait and see what happens in this meeting they're having in two days," Manchin told Newsweek. "Let's see what they can come up with."

On Friday, Biden and the four Congressional party leaders will meet again at the White House to resume negotiations. In the meantime, their staffs will meet to discuss common ground. However, Punchbowl News reported that these staffs are not clear on what they're discussing, with the Democrats believing they are working on a spending agreement outside of the debt limit while the Republicans believe they're working on a debt limit proposal with spending cuts.

McCarthy appears intent on moving forward with a negotiated plan and did not address how he'd proceed if Biden invokes the 14^th Amendment. While the speaker McCarthy provided lengthy answers to many of the questions posed to him following his meeting at the White House, he was brief when asked about the 14^th Amendment, saying, "none of that was brought up," before immediately moving on to a question from another reporter.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, declined to share his thoughts on Biden raising the debt ceiling under the 14^th Amendment when asked by Newsweek. However, his Judiciary Committee leadership counterpart Senator Dick Durbin, the Senate's second highest ranking Democrat, did not shy away from the question.

Last Thursday, prior to Biden's and McCarthy's meeting, Durbin provided Newsweek the following answer when asked whether Biden should consider using his constitutional authority to raise the debt ceiling:

"I'm open to suggestions about how to end the suicide pact on the debt limit."