Sixty-six members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to invoke the 14th Amendment instead of coming to a compromise with Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on raising the debt ceiling.

The 14th Amendment says the “validity of the public debt of the United States … shall not be questioned.” And progressives want Biden to use this amendment to go around Congress and ensure the country doesn’t default.

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“In light of unremitting efforts by Congressional Republicans to hold the economic health of our nation hostage, we as members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus write to urge you to fulfill the Executive’s Constitutional duty to faithfully and impartially administer the funds already enacted by law at the direction of Congress,” the progressives' letter reads. “We encourage you to invoke the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.”

The letter continues by saying that because House Republicans “refuse to pass a clean debt ceiling,” they are threatening the “full faith and credit of the United States.”

A group of progressive senators led by Bernie Sanders (I-VT) called Thursday for Biden to use the 14th Amendment.

House Republicans did pass a bill to raise the debt ceiling in late April that included several spending cuts and caps, something progressives have expressed their displeasure with. All Democrats voted against the bill, and the Democratic-controlled Senate has refused to take it up.

“But at the end of the day, I don't think that Democrats should be the ones to put ordinary people at risk, throw millions of people off of VA benefits, Social Security benefits, jobs, food stamps, put more people into order, in order to do what Republicans should have done to start with,” Chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) told reporters on Thursday.

Negotiations took a hit on Friday when the House GOP negotiators “paused” the talks with the White House because they were “unproductive,” McCarthy’s chief negotiator, Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA), told reporters as he left the negotiations with the White House this afternoon.

McCarthy said for his conference to get behind a bill to raise the debt ceiling, it has to cut spending and have some form of work requirements for welfare services in the bill. Both of which are things progressives are against.

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“We have to spend less than we spent the year before,” McCarthy said.

The country is scheduled to default on its debt on June 1, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.