Biden mulls 14th Amendment end run around Congress to resolve debt ceiling standoff

President Joe Biden told reporters on Tuesday that he was considering an approach to address the ongoing standoff between the White House and House Republicans over raising the debt ceiling that would circumvent Congress entirely.

"I have been considering the 14th amendment, and the man I have enormous respect for, Larry Tribe…thinks that it would be legitimate," Biden confirmed to reporters after meeting with congressional leaders, The Hill reported. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy confirmed that the meeting bore no fruit in terms of a resolution to the matter.

Section 4 of the 14th Amendment directly addresses the public debt, asserting that "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned."

The approach Biden mentioned would involve challenging the constitutionality of the debt limit outright on the basis of this passage. Should the court determine that the debt limit is unconstitutional, it would hand Biden the win as his party seeks to increase the limit without making the spending concessions that the GOP seeks.

The president did, however, acknowledge that "it would have to be litigated... And in the meantime, without an extension, it would still end up in the same place," concluding that such an method to skirt Congress would not be viable as a short-term solution.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has rejected the idea of a short-term deal to avert a default while the government attempts to work out a compromise, insisting that lawmakers ought to address the matter immediately.

The U.S. hit its $31.38 trillion debt ceiling in January and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that lawmakers must reach a deal by June 1 to avoid a default.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.