With Congress locked in a partisan standstill that could take weeks to end, the possibility that the looming U.S. debt ceiling crisis could be temporarily halted by the Treasury Department approving the minting of a trillion-dollar platinum coin has been floating around. If that were to happen, the coin would bridge the gap between money running out and lawmakers raising the ceiling. But it still sounds like such a move would be one of last resort, and even that could be a generous description.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday dismissed the idea as nothing but a "gimmick," arguing that officials shouldn't consider it a serious solution. Minting the coin would compromise the independence of the Federal Reserve and would damage trust in both Congress and the Biden administration to pay the United States' bills, she argued.
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