Using 14th Amendment to solve debt ceiling would risk 'constitutional crisis,' Yellen says

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday said invoking the 14th Amendment to get around the debt ceiling and continue borrowing money to pay the nation's bills would risk a "constitutional crisis," downplaying the idea that the amendment would simply solve the looming problem -- but she avoided ruling it out entirely.

"What to do if Congress fails to meet its responsibility? There are simply no good options, and the ones that you've listed are among the not good options," Yellen told ABC "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos when pressed on whether the Biden administration was considering using the 14th Amendment, which states that the public debt "shall not be questioned."

Yellen said on "This Week" that the only way for the U.S. to avoid an unprecedented default as soon as next month is for Congress to pass legislation doing so, even as the White House and congressional Democrats appear to be in a stalemate with Republicans over GOP demands to tie steep spending cuts to raising or suspending the debt ceiling.

Amid that debate, President Joe Biden said on Friday, of trying to use the 14th Amendment as a solution: "I've not gotten there yet."