|
House Dems say president can raise debt ceiling
[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] House Democrats say President Barack ObamaI inhaled. That was the point... should consider invoking a little-known constitutional provision that they say gives him the power to raise the debt ceiling without going through Congress, where Republicans are demanding that a debt ceiling vote be linked to spending cuts. The Democrats said in a letter that they would support the use of any authority, including the 14th Amendment, to prevent the nation from going into default, an event that some economists predict could trigger a global recession. That post-Civil War amendment contains a section stating that "the validity of the public debt of the United States...shall not be questioned."
Raising the federal borrowing limit is now subject to congressional approval, which traditionally has come with relatively little resistance. But in July 2011 Republicans tied their vote on the debt ceiling to concessions on spending, generating a confrontation with the B.O. regime and resulting in the first-ever ratings downgrade of the nation's credit-worthiness. Posted by: Fred 2013-01-10 |
|
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=359734 |