U.S. Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) campaigned as a fighter, and this week the freshman lawmaker is breaking out his fightin’ words as the U.S. hurtles toward debt default. With the deadline to raise the debt limit looming, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his caucus of MAGA Republicans continue to use the debt ceiling issue as a wedge to try to force budget concessions from the Biden White House.
Acting in “bad faith” — as Sen. Bernie Sanders has characterized McCarthy’s debt limit gamesmanship — the “reckless Republicans” — as Fetterman puts it — must be circumvented rather than placated, according to Fetterman.
The Pennsylvania Democrat’s commitment to President Biden‘s use the 14th amendment is part of a groundswell on the left, where there is a belief that a belligerent GOP is playing with fire — or as Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse puts it, holding a “hand grenade.”
(A letter to Biden from 11 Democratic Senators gives some history, saying “the debt limit has been raised nearly 80 times” in the past 63 years, including “18 times under President Ronald Reagan,” a Republican.)
Sanders and Fetterman are part of an increasingly vocal group encouraging Biden to use the language of the 14th amendment as a way to go around the House Republicans who refuse to pass a clean debt limit raise.
There are multiple challenges to the 14th amendment approach, but one expected high hurdle for the executive branch would be the Supreme Court of the United States, which would need to determine whether Biden’s interpretation of his powers under the 14th amendment is constitutional.
Fetterman fired a preemptive warning at SCOTUS, saying “if our unelected Supreme Court Justices try to block the use of the 14th amendment and blow up our economy, that’s on them.”
And, if our unelected Supreme Court Justices try to block the use of the 14th amendment and blow up our economy, that’s on them.
— Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) May 18, 2023
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