Biden: I’m Not Ready ‘Yet’ to Blow Past Debt Limit Using 14th Amendment, But Some in Congress Might Want Default

During an interview with MSNBC on Friday aired on Friday’s broadcast of “The 11th Hour,” President Joe Biden said that he isn’t prepared to invoke the 14th Amendment to go through the debt ceiling “yet.” But there might be some people in Congress who are okay with a default.

Host Stephanie Ruhle asked, “As I said, you have a very strong economic recovery story, but this is a very volatile Congress. There are members of Congress that might be okay with us defaulting, because they think it could hurt you more politically. Given that, are you prepared to invoke the 14th Amendment and blow through the debt ceiling?”

Biden agreed with Ruhle that some in Congress might be okay with a default and added, “I’ve not gotten there yet. And here’s the deal: I think that, first of all, this is not your father’s Republican Party. This is a different group. And I think that we have to make it clear to the American people, that I am prepared to negotiate in detail with their budget, how much are you going to spend, how much are you going to tax, where can we cut? For example, in the first two years of my administration, I cut the debt by $1.7 trillion, 1.7 — more than anybody’s ever done in history. Their budget goes in — and there’s no possibility they can pass their budget, zero, zero possibility. They cut 200 — anyway, I won’t — I shouldn’t get going on them.”

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