I'm beginning to think Bill Clinton is right on debt limit--invoke 14th amendment

[WI_DEM]

With the deadline to raise the debt ceiling just two weeks away, former President Bill Clinton said that if he were in President Obama’s shoes, he would use the 14th amendment to raise the debt ceiling “without hesitation.”

Clinton told The National Memo’s Joe Conason that he would invoke the constitutional option and “force the courts to stop me” if “it came to that” and a deal could not be reached with Congress.

“I think the Constitution is clear and I think this idea that the Congress gets to vote twice on whether to pay for it has appropriated is crazy,” Clinton said.

Of course--Obama has apparently already ruled that out:

The Obama White House, however, has adamantly denied that the 14th amendment is an option.

“It's pretty categorical. We're not exploring this. That's not an option,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday. “There is no mechanism that allows us to get around the fact that on August 2nd, if the measures haven't been taken, we go into default.”

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2011/07/bill-clinton-i-would-use-14th-amendment-to-raise-the-debt-ceiling.html

[FreakinDJ]

1. Tell DEMs "Just Say No" - for the Gipper

[Raven]

2. I am beginning to think the same thing. I think it would be a win-win

for Obama. Now that the House has gone on a weekend vacation, he can say he's gone the extra mile, invoke the 14th A and them demand that these idiots go back to work. Let them sue him...sue him for saving the global economy? Really?

[iamtechus]

3. I used to be very much ashamed of Clinton's whimpish behavior

But Bill was a pretty tough hombre compared to what we have now.

[elocs]

4. Either the 14ths Amendment applies or it does not. Obama knows what he believes

regardless of what Bill Clinton says. Maybe it is his ace in the hole. Would the teahadists ever scream if Obama used the U.S. Constitution to raise the debt ceiling, but then most of them have never read it although I'm sure most could parrot part of the Second Amendment, but just part of it.

[MrDiaz]

5. nowhere

in the 14th amendment does it give the president power to bypass congress on the debt. The supreme court would never allow this.

[kick-ass-bob]

7. Read the text:

"The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned."

The debt was already authorized by law: the budget, passed by Congress with full knowledge that it was only possible with the use of debt.

They have already paid it once, why do they get to vote on whether to pay it again?

[Shrek]

10. Your statement is factually incorrect

the budget, passed by Congress with full knowledge that it was only possible with the use of debt

Not true. The debt can be serviced with additional tax revenue, by selling federal assets, by printing more currency, etc.

If the 14th allows the president to unilaterally borrow money then certainly it allows him to unilaterally raise taxes if he so desires.

[SlimJimmy]

11. I agree with you. I don't believe that the Constitution allows the

executive to raise revenue or incur debt. Only the Congress can do that.

[kick-ass-bob]

12. So you think last Congress passed the budget thinking they would

be selling assets, printing money, and raising revenues to the effect that the debt ceiling, which has been raised how many times in the last 10 years, would not need to be increased?

Are you really saying that?

[Shrek]

13. Not what I'm saying

You seem to be saying that Congress passed a budget, so that implicitly authorizes the president to borrow money to pay for it.

What I'm asking is: why does an implicit authorization necessarily mean more debt? Couldn't the President just as easily say that he needs to hike taxes to pay for the spending?

[hamsterjill]

6. I love Big Dawg

I have always thought he's the best thing that ever happened to the Dems. I know he has his detractors, but I think he's shrewd.

[eomer]

8. Yes, except that Obama is among those who is angling to use it to create a fake crisis.

He keeps insisting on getting the biggest deal he can. That's the opposite of what he needs to do. He needs to insist on raising the debt ceiling with no strings attached like it's been done in the past.

Obama's insistence on the widest deal possible is pushing Social Security and Medicare cuts into the conversation.

[unblock]

9. it's a stall tactic at best.

i think the 14th amendment lets the treasury borrow to cover existing debts, but not to borrow to cover additional spending.
so it buys time because we can borrow to make interest payments and pay items already ordered, but then obama has to stop placing new orders because there's no way to pay for them.

that doesn't mean it shouldn't be done; a stall tactic may be necessary. but it wouldn't make the problem go away.
in fact, it would only push it into the heart of election season.