Biden views the debt ceiling as a staring contest with Republicans, not his duty as president
FOX NewsMay 17, 2023
After both US Pres. Joe Biden and GOP leaders expressed optimism earlier this week, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's (R-Calif.) lead negotiator, Rep. Garrett Graves (R-La.), said Friday they've "decided to press pause" on debt-ceiling negotiations as "it's just not productive."
This comes as a source close to the talks had said both sides had reached an "impasse" on several issues, including work requirements for welfare, caps on future spending growth, and budget cuts.
Republicans are offering a very fair debt limit deal, one that distinguishes itself from past years of falsely promising to "balance the budget" in ten years. In exchange for raising the horrendously high debt by another $1.5T, all the GOP is asking for is that essential reforms be implemented. Rather than making serious efforts to negotiate, Biden is dangerously flirting with recycling the civil-war era 14th Amendment.
If Biden bypassed Congress to open the debt limit through the 14th Amendment, it doesn't mean he would become a budgetary tyrant, as only Congress can pass the budget. What it would mean is that once budget talks roll around, the GOP would be free to withhold funding and push for a government shutdown.
There's a 95% chance that the statutory debt limit will be increased or suspended for at least 30 days in the US before 2024, according to the Metaculus prediction community.