Ocasio-Cortez Says Amendment 14 ‘Should Be On The Table’ As Debt Limit Talks Continue

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.) said Thursday that invoking Amendment 14 to raise the debt ceiling “should be on the table” for the president Joe Biden while still negotiating with republicans to prevent default on the nation’s debt.

The president plans to cut short his attendance at a dinner with other leaders at the Group of Seven summit in Japan for a briefing on the negotiations. according to CNN. Biden has already agreed to shorten his trip, canceling stops in Australia and Papua New Guinea to continue talks with congressional leaders.

Eleven progressive senators, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), wrote Biden on Thursday, urging him not to give in to the demands of the Republican Party and instead unilaterally raise the debt limit by invoking the constitutional amendment.

“While we cannot default on our debt, we also cannot allow the destructive Republican budget to be implemented.” the senators wrote.

Ocasio-Cortez echoed those sentiments, Counting down the Politico playbook:: “I think it should be on the table. And I think the reasons for that are legitimate.”

He Amendment 14 includes a section on government debt that says that “the validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for the payment of pensions and gratuities for services in the suppression of insurrection or rebellion”.

Critics of this approach warn that the constitutional theory has not been proven and would very likely be challenged in court.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who has warned of catastrophic consequences if the United States does not resolve the debt limit impasse by June 1, also expressed skepticism about invoking the 14th Amendment.

“It is legally questionable whether or not that is a viable strategy,” Yellen said last week.

Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez also addressed the possibility of Donald Trump winning the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential race. Asked if Democrats should expect this scenario, Ocasio-Cortez sounded cautious.

“I don’t think we should support Trump in any situation,” he said. “2020 was not an explosion.”

Biden won the race by more than 4 percentage points.

Ocasio-Cortez noted that the Electoral College system means that presidential results are often decided “in a very small handful of states.”

“I think a lot of times people overestimate Trump in certain areas,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “But they still underestimate Trump, I think, in his ability to carry a message and have a base.”

Trump appears to be the GOP front-runner for now, even after a Manhattan grand jury indicted him for his role in a hush-money payment scheme, and found responsible for sexual abuse in a civil case brought by former columnist E. Jean Carroll. He also faces ongoing criminal investigations related to the January 6, 2021 insurrection and his mishandling of classified documents.