GOP Rep on Fox News Says 14th Amendment Talk ‘Just a Gimmick’ and Even Yellen Admits It

Arkansas Republican French Hill on Sunday told Fox News anchor Jon Scott that the so-called 14th Amendment “solution’ to the debt limit fight is nothing more than a “gimmick,” and that even Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen admits it.

President Joe Biden is meeting with Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the House GOP on Monday in what may be the final attempt to negotiate a compromise that would end the stalemate in Congress over raising the debt ceiling.

While the idea of using the language in the 14th Amendment as a basis to ignore the debt ceiling is not entirely new, even having come up back during the Obama administration, it returned to prominence and gained traction after a New York Times article outlining it some weeks ago, as well as Harvard professor emeritus and constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe — who in the past said it was not a legitimate option — strongly advocating for using it just days ago.

Progressive members of Congress have urged Biden to take that step, and he said before leaving the G7 summit that his administration is looking at it, and he believes he has that authority.

Scott spoke with Hill, who is on both the Oversight and the Financial Services committees, about the debt limit fight, and asked him about the idea of Biden invoking the 14th Amendment.

Hill brought up Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in his answer that Biden should be focusing on reaching a deal with Republicans.

“The 14th Amendment, as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told everybody in Washington, is a gimmick,” he said. “And what we need the president to do is get serious. Let’s have less finger-pointing, less name-calling, and let’s get serious and work together on a sensible and responsible way to raise the debt ceiling.”

SCOTT: I want to put up something that the Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote today. They say, ‘What the 14th Amendment — because there’s been talk, as you know, of the president invoking the 14th Amendment — ”What the 14th Amendment doesn’t allow is the claim by many progressives that the president can issue new debt without the consent of Congress. Merely because Congress has approved new spending doesn’t mean the president can issue new debt on his own authority to finance it. He can’t issue new debt on his own to finance Medicare, for example.’ That’s pretty basic civics. I mean, Congress has the power of the purse.

HILL: Correct. The 14th Amendment, as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told everybody in Washington, is a gimmick. And what we need the president to do is get serious. Let’s have less finger-pointing, less name-calling, and let’s get serious and work together on a sensible and responsible way to raise the debt ceiling, go back to normal on curtailing spending, and get this economy growing through regulatory reform.

At his closing presser before leaving Japan, during which he announced his believe he has the authority for the 14th Amendment option, Biden also pronounced himself blameless in the debt fight.

Watch the clip above, via Fox News.