
After meeting with congressional leaders at the White House Tuesday afternoon, U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters he has been "considering" invoking the 14th Amendment to the Constitution to avert a catastrophic default, but he also suggested that doing so won't solve the current battle with House Republicans.
With Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and others warning that the U.S. could face its first-ever default as soon as June 1, some legal experts and members of Congress have promoted unilateral action by Biden—such as minting a $1 trillion coin or citing the 14th Amendment, which says in part that the validity of the public debt "shall not be questioned," to justify continuing to pay the nation's bills even if GOP lawmakers won't raise the official borrowing limit.