14th Amendment Considered for Resolution

Kelly: The 14th Amendment is being considered after weeks of partisan politics, it now appears the White House and Congress are on the path to a debt ceiling resolution, with Speaker McCarthy saying he sees a deal heading for a House vote as soon as next week.

It comes even as a group of Senate Democrats, including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are urging President Biden to invoke the 14th Amendment to avoid a default if those negotiations fail. Let’s get to Kayla Tausche in Washington with all the latest. Kayla.

Kayla: Kelly, to be sure the partisan politics are still alive and well, but at least for today, the smaller team of core negotiators for both sides met again at the Capitol after a marathon meeting yesterday with just two weeks before that critical June 1st deadline. The mood today seemed positive and participants seemed optimistic a deal could be reached by the end of this week. Here’s house speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Rep. McCarthy: I’m not confident about anything in there. I just believe where we were a week ago and where we are today is a much better place because we’ve got the right people in the room discussing it in a very professional manner with all the knowledge and all the background from all the different leaders of what they want. I know and I can see where a deal can come together.

Kayla: So certainly a different place than last week. And now Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, is weighing in too.

Sen. Schumer: The negotiations are currently making progress as Speaker McCarthy has said, he expects the House will vote next week if an agreement is reached and the Senate would begin consideration after that.

Kayla: But several Senate Democrats are not on board. Today, more than a dozen led by Progressive Bernie Sanders sent a letter to the president, urging him to invoke the 14th Amendment if the two sides can’t agree to raise taxes as part of the deal. Writing, Republicans’ unwillingness to consider one penny in new revenue from the wealthy and large corporations, along with their diminishment of the disastrous consequences of default have made it seemingly impossible to enact a bipartisan budget deal at this time.

Well, National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard told reporters today the administration is seeking a reasonable bipartisan budget agreement, though the details of any nascent deal, Kelly, are still under wraps until it gets closer to time.

Kelly: So if they do the 14th amendment or a discharge petition or something, does that mean the base will be dissatisfied if the president makes some kind of deal where he has to make concessions to Republicans when they said you could have just done an end round this whole thing?

Kayla: Well, it’s unclear exactly how seriously the White House is really considering any of those stopgap measures. The president said that some of his advisors have told him that exercising the 14th Amendment is a legitimate option, but then last week the Deputy Treasury Secretary, Wally Adeyemo, said the president is not seriously considering that and that the only thing that would keep uncertainty from permeating the markets is Congress lifting the debt limit.

So certainly, you know, the White House is trying to appear as if it has other 11th-hour measures that it doesn’t need Congress for, but the question is still what it can do that will keep the markets from going haywire if they end up getting close to June 1st, Kelly.

Kelly: Yeah, it’s been a very odd period of time but I guess everyone feels sort of confident about something. Kayla, thank you for now. We appreciate it. Kayla Tausche.

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