Time for Biden to invoke the 14th amendment?

So it has come to this. House Republicans are about to force the U.S. government to default on paying its debts – obligations that Congress voted to make

- Jesse Jackson

They bluster that they will blow up the economy, tank the dollar, and destroy America’s good faith and credit unless they get their way – even as they are bitterly divided about what “their way” means. The stakes are unfathomable – and so it is worth being clear about what is happening.

According to the Treasury secretary, June 1 is the likely date when the U.S. will hit the so-called “debt ceiling” unless Congress acts. The debt ceiling is a silly gimmick that limits what the U.S. can borrow, even to pay the obligations that Congress has already committed. Under Donald Trump – who ran up a staggering percentage of the U.S. national debt because of his tax cuts and military and pandemic spending – Democrats agreed to raise the debt ceiling repeatedly without any conditions. What they should have done was repeal the debt ceiling completely.

Now House Republicans want to use it as a weapon of mass destruction to get their way. Since they know that Americans can be scared about debt and deficits-they claim to be concerned about rising deficits. Although deficits have been coming down since Trump left office and the pandemic relief measures expired.

In reality, they are more passionate about tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations than they are about reducing deficits. They refuse to consider any package that asks the rich and corporations to pay their part.