14th Amendment

Pelosi On Obama Ignoring The Debt Limit: Ain't Gonna Happen

Brian Beutler | July 8, 2011, 2:27PM

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi dumped the last shovel-full of dirt on the idea that President Obama can ignore the national borrowing limit if Congress refuses to raise it.

At her weekly press conference on Capitol Hill, she gave reporters a glimpse into a Thursday meeting at the White House with Democratic and Republican leaders, which, she said, became dominated by the question of the Constitutionality of the debt ceiling.

"At our meeting they spent a whole lot of time talking about the 14th Amendment. I said, 'you know what? Why are we talking about something that's not going to happen.'"

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Debt Ceiling

GOP Senators Worried About Constitutional Nuclear Option On Debt Ceiling

Benjy Sarlin | July 7, 2011, 11:40AM

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

Republicans are pushing back against suggestions from Democrats that the debt ceiling is unconstitutional and can be ignored by the White House.

The notion has generated increased interest among Democrats in recent weeks as debt ceiling talks have lost momentum and rests on language in the 14th Amendment stating that "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law...shall not be questioned." President Obama didn't rule the idea out in his Twitter town hall yesterday, telling the audience that he wanted a deal before it became a relevant debate.

Nervous that Democrats might be saving the move as an emergency option, Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and John Cornyn (R-TX) are putting forward a Senate resolution affirming Congress' right to determine the debt limit.

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Barack Obama

Obama Not Ruling Out Invoking Constitutional Nuclear Option In Debt Talks

Susan Crabtree | July 6, 2011, 5:24PM

During Wednesday's first Twitter town hall, President Barack Obama made his feelings about the debt ceiling situation pretty clear. Using charged language, he said it should not be "used as a gun against the heads of the American people to extract tax breaks for corporate jet owners, or oil and gas companies." However, the president sidestepped a question about whether it was a good idea to invoke the 14th Amendment to pay government obligations if Congress refuses to raise that debt ceiling -- but he didn't rule it out.

As the Aug. 2 deadline to raise the debt ceiling looms closer and closer, liberal academics -- and even some Democratic members of Congress -- have begun questioning whether the legislative branch actually has the power under the Constitution to force the federal government to default on its debts.

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Barack Obama

Obama: I Underestimated Magnitude Of The Recession

Susan Crabtree | July 6, 2011, 3:17PM

President Obama openly acknowledged underestimating the length and magnitude of the worst recession since the Great Depression in a response to a question during his Twitter town hall.

Always a tough question to answer, Obama was asked what mistakes he made in handling the economic crisis and what he would have done differently looking back on his first months in office.

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Debt Ceiling

Schumer: Obama May Not Need Congress To Avoid Default -- But Congress Needs To Act

Brian Beutler | July 1, 2011, 12:10PM

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

On a conference call with reporters Friday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) acknowledged that President Obama may not need Congressional authorization to avoid a default on the national debt. But he noted, too, that the Constitutional debate on this question isn't ripe enough yet for Obama to take an end run around Congress, even if Republicans refuse to increase the national borrowing limit.

I asked Schumer, a lawyer, whether, in his view, the administration had the power to continue issuing new debt even if Congress fails to raise the debt limit. He acknowledged that the question's been discussed, but said the White House probably shouldn't go there just yet.

"It's certainly worth exploring," Schumer said. "I think it needs a little more exploration and study. It's probably not right to pursue at this point and you wouldn't want to go ahead and issue the debt and then have the courts reverse it."

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