Court would halt Biden attempt to invoke 14th amendment to raise debt ceiling, tax group says

A nonprofit tax group says the courts would thwart any attempt by President Biden to invoke the 14th amendment to raise the debt ceiling.

"It would get slapped down in the courts," Dan Savickas, a policy director at the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, said Monday on the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show.

"But that hasn't stopped President Biden from trying before," Savickas said, pointing at his attempt to use executive orders to forgive Americans' student debt and to extend the Trump-era rent payment moratorium.

Last week, Biden was asked during an interview with MSNBC if invoking the amendment was on the table to avert the debt crisis, to which he responded, "I've not gotten there yet."

The amendment in part states the "validity of the public debt of the United States ... shall not be questioned." 

Congress must raise the federal government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling by June 1 to avoid default, says Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. 

Biden is in a standoff over the ceiling with Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who wants spending cuts in exchange for lifting the ceiling.

Said Savickas: "The 14th Amendment does not apply here, but again, that has not stopped the Biden administration before. So I think you would see the House Republicans move to censure this administration or do something along those lines. I think it would very quickly get slayed or shut down in the courts."