House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is holding up passage of a debt ceiling raise in order to win concessions on budgetary considerations as presented in his ‘Limit, Save, Grow’ bill. Democrats call what McCarthy is doing extortion, as the Speaker wields the “weird” leverage derived from his control over the debt limit change to demand concessions he couldn’t win through the normal legislative process.
If far apart on everything else, McCarthy and his opponents are in agreement on what his strategy is — scare the other side with the first-ever U.S. debt default, and see what the frightened party will concede. It’s high stakes “chicken,” a game in which, when neither participant veers away, results in injuries for all.
[Note: This hasn’t historically been an irreconcilably partisan issue. Donald Trump, when he was President, said unequivocally that the position McCarthy is now taking is wrong and should “never” be done. See video below.]
President Trump on the debt ceiling: “I said, I remember, to Sen. Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, ‘Would anyone ever use that to negotiate with?’ They said ‘absolutely not.’ That’s a sacred element of our country. They can’t use the debt ceiling to negotiate.” pic.twitter.com/WvI6j4nqMQ
— The Hill (@thehill) July 19, 2019
Yet there is another notion in the air for President Biden to consider in countering Speaker McCarthy’s gamesmanship — the use of the phrasing in the 14th amendment that says “the debt of the United States shall not be questioned.”
Legal experts say the 14th amendment is a viable option for the White House to avoid suffering McCarthy’s extortionist tactics.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, a lawyer and former State Attorney General, published a tweet thread that dives into why the strategy may be necessary. His most colloquial phrasing — and least technical — says simply that when it comes to driving the U.S. off the debt cliff, “We can’t let the crazies do this to America.“
And avoiding what the people Whitehouse calls “crazies” — McCarthy and his MAGA constituency — will do requires a “thorough look through the Constitution.”
We cannot let the crazies do this to America. That means a thorough look at the Constitution.
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) May 17, 2023
Whitehouse acknowledges that the path through the 14th amendment would require the imprimatur of the Supreme Court, which he says should respect the President’s authority on the matter.
3. That conflict of duties presents a “political question” that the president is obliged to resolve, which the Supreme Court should respect.
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) May 17, 2023
