Debt ceiling review at White House concluded that there were few options.

According to some legal experts, the administration could then say that the laws are in conflict, forcing the administration to choose between them. If so, the government would argue that ongoing payments are the best of two options – both of which would violate Congressional law. This theoretical possibility has been discussed in conversations by at least two high-ranking Biden aides in recent days, but ruled out because they believed it would be devastating for the country, the people who spoke on condition of anonymity said to the sensitive people to speak internal deliberations.