Debt Limit Debate: $1 Trillion Coin Not Off the Table
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) wants to sit down with President Biden, who has agreed to meet with the Republican leader, without saying when.
McCarthy said giving the Treasury Department authority to hike borrowing without add-on GOP conditions is “off the table.” House conservatives want to curb federal spending.
Point, Counterpoint
"When it comes to the debt ceiling, the president has been clear. It should not be used as a political football, but again, he's looking forward to meeting with the Speaker and continue to build on that relationship,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeated on Friday.
“We cannot raise the debt ceiling,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) tweeted last week. “Democrats have carelessly spent our taxpayer money and devalued our currency. They’ve made their bed, so they must lie in it.”
Read more: Kevin McCarthy Finally Won the House Speaker Gavel, Now What?
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the No. 2 Democrat, said Biden should not negotiate with Republicans over raising the cap on borrowing, while sometimes centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), has said he wants to discuss Social Security and Medicare spending with the GOP. He told CNN that it was a “mistake” for the president to refuse to negotiate.
“Those who are posing for holy pictures as budget balancers… should note one important fact: Almost 25 percent of all of the national debt accumulated over the history of the United States… was accumulated during the four years of Donald Trump,” Durbin told CNN.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is expected to play a major role in in the emerging debt ceiling fight.
$1 Trillion Coin?
The news comes as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the Federal Reserve likely wouldn’t accept a $1 trillion platinum coin if the Biden administration tried to mint one to avoid breaching the debt limit.
Some Biden administration officials and Democrats on Capitol Hill have discussed the possibility that the Treasury could use an obscure law authorizing platinum coins to circumvent Congress if lawmakers don't raise the debt ceiling.
Under the proposed scheme, the Treasury would mint a $1 trillion coin and deposit it at the Fed, and then draw the money to pay the country’s bills.
Read more: Bank of America Says a U.S. Debt Default is "Likely"
“It truly is not by any means to be taken as a given that the Fed would do it, and I think especially with something that’s a gimmick,” Yellen told the Wall Street Journal.
