The White House says despite watching Congress careen toward a government shutdown, it isn't making President Barack Obama reconsider ways to sidestep Congress on the debt ceiling.
"Only Congress can raise the debt limit. Period," a White House official told First Read. "We have said coin and 14th Amendment aren't workable."
The last time the country was up against its debt limit earlier this year, far-flung alternatives to having Congress raise the debt ceiling were floated by liberal Democrats, like minting a $1 trillion coin and invoking the 14th Amendment to bypass Congress.
Section 4 of the 14th Amendment states: "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payments of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion shall not be questioned."
Former President Bill Clinton said in July he would invoke it if it came down to it "without hesitation and force the courts to stop me."
President Obama, however, said he spoke with White House lawyers, and, "They are not persuaded that that is a winning argument."
The Treasury Department says the U.S. will hit its debt limit Oct. 17. It could default on its debt soon afterward. President Obama has said he will "not negotiate when it comes to the full faith and credit of the United States."