January 23, 2023 8:48pm EST
Yellen rejects minting $1T platinum coin to avoid US debt ceiling as a 'gimmick'
Yellen rejected the latest calls to mint the $1 trillion platinum coin as a "gimmick"
By Eric Revell FOXBusiness
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen dismissed the idea of minting a $1 trillion platinum coin to keep the U.S. from defaulting on the national debt as a "gimmick" that the Federal Reserve is unlikely to go along with, dealing a blow to advocates' hopes of using it as an end-run around Congress amid the debt limit debate.
Progressive economists and some Democratic lawmakers have pushed for the Treasury to mint a $1 trillion platinum coin and deposit it at the Federal Reserve to raise the debt ceiling, then use the headroom created by the maneuver to fund more government spending. It would utilize a legal loophole that allows the Treasury to mint platinum coins of any denomination.
"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 in an interview on Sunday. "The Fed is not required to accept it, there's no requirement on the part of the Fed. It's up to them what to do."
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https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/yellen-rejects-minting-1t-platinum-coin-avoid-us-debt-ceiling-gimmick
