Posted on 01/05/2013 5:50:18 AM PST by Moseley
The debt ceiling is the last leverage that Republicans have to prevent out-of-control Federal spending and on various policy issues. Liberals know this: even as Senate Democrats talk of ending the right of Republicans to filibuster, liberals are seeking to defang the Republican House of Representatives as well. They are also now peddling a new theme that the debt ceiling itself is unconstitutional under Section 4 of the 14th Amendment. Therefore, President Obama may simply ignore the debt ceiling.
The looming debt ceiling fight could allow Republicans to soundly defeat Obama's overspending. In the "fiscal cliff" deal, Republicans succeeded by making most of the temporary Bush tax cuts permanent, but failed to get spending cuts. Yet now, Republicans could use the debt ceiling vote to slash spending. The overall result could be serious deficit reduction at lower permanent tax rates. But this requires Republicans to stand united and refuse to raise the debt ceiling.
Section 4 of the 14th Amendment requires: "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law... shall not be questioned." Liberals argue that if Congress has authorized spending, this automatically gives the president the power and even the obligation to borrow whatever it takes to spend all the money for which Congress voted. When Congress votes to spend money, this includes the obligation of the chief executive to take whatever actions are necessary to pay the debts of the United States Government. That is because "the validity of the public debt" ... "shall not be questioned." Thus, any debt ceiling law violates Section 4, they argue.
Suddenly the appeal for Washington to abandon the U.S. Constitution from Georgetown Law Professor Louis Michael Seidman in the New York Times makes sense.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
The US Constitution is now a quaint old piece of parchment relegated to viewing through thick glass by elementary school kids on their way to the IMAX theater to receive their instructions from Dear Leader.
This ‘issue’ isn’t complex at all.
Simply remove the term “debt ceiling” from your mind.... The Congress needs to just ....NOT SPEND THE DAMN MONEY!
Balance the budget!
I was under the impression all these years, the constitution was the law of the land.
If so, how can members of congress breach the law with impunity and skirt prosecution?
Barry is going to lay out his marching orders in the SOU. This should be the first state of the union that when his excellency is done speaking, the speaker of the house says, and now it is time for a response, publicly. We do not stand in recess, take out the trash please Mr. Sergeant at Arms, and now here it is:
1. Everything Barry said is BS.
2. We are not going to defacto suspend our constitution.
3. From today forward, not one dime is to be spent that has not been appropriated.
4. The states are on notice it is time for them to begin to reform a New Constitution by convention process.
GOP leadership
You write as if there is any. GOP "leadership" has deserted the field. They are minions of Obama.
has = have
Lincoln was for the constitution?
After burning Atlanta and the South for daring to secede?
Just don’t send him any more spending bills. the House is as complicit as the Senate and the POTUS.
The operative words being AUTHORIZED BY LAW. The authorized debt is currently 16 trillion. I don't see how they get past that little caveat.
Suspend the Constitution? I thought Roberts did that with his Obamacare ruling.
He said he wasn’t going to debate the debt ceiling,wonder if he can bypas congress and the constitution ?.
Interesting video of Calvin Coolidge reading a speech on our national debt and the danger of it growing. ($7.5 billion in 1924). He wasn’t a great speaker but it was a great speech all the same.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5puwTrLRhmw
“You write as if there is any. GOP “leadership” has deserted the field. They are minions of Obama.”
Any other better ideas? Or else should we board the freight cars and off we go.
Boehner will cave unless the others strap and lock a remote controlled electrical neck collar on him so they can train him away from his cave and surrender propensities. Sort of like the remote controlled dog collar.
I sure wish that Louie Gohmert was the speaker. Now that would be exciting.
1. Everything Barry said is BS.
2. We are not going to defacto suspend our constitution.
3. From today forward, not one dime is to be spent that has not been
appropriated.
4. The states are on notice it is time for them to begin to reform a New
Constitution by convention process.
Sure, if Allen West were Speaker. Ain't gonna happen with Speaker Weeper at the helm.
Drunkenness, especially power drunkenness, clouds perception so the answer to your question is: Not until it is too late.
Exactly. I signed up to Free Republic some time ago and at the height of the Tea Party activity I had hopes of actually having results.
However it has become crystal clear we have lost. I prayed the first election of Obama was a “perfect storm” combination of race, media, economic conditions and magical thinking. His re-election has hammered home the truth the takers have control.
My family and I have the intelligence and ability to prosper. I tried to help create a country where someone was judged and rewarded according to their character. “They” are saying I was wrong. Doing so is racist. Fine..”They” win.
I will join them in supporting a ruling elite that will keep them slaves. I’ll throw them an occasional phone or other bright trinket for them to wallow in the swill with. Let them kill their babies. Let them allow their sons and daughters that manage to get through P.P. kill one another over drugs or tennis shoes. I don’t care anymore.
This system will crash, and then my children, and grand children will bury the trash and rebuild. We will survive.
Elites always need a productive society to skim off of. Does anyone think that when the rulling elites are overburdened by the demands of the grabbers, they wont hesitate to eliminate them? And when that starts, do you think I will cry for them. I say the sooner the better. Want to burn down your community because the brigh light is so pretty. Here’s your matches. Elites always need a productive society to skim off of.
America’s strength was always based on the strength of the Individual and an adherence to the principles of Cristianity. I am willing to fight and die for those that share that view.
I can give a rat’s @$$ for the heathen scum that now has control. I know how to get rid of feral hogs.
The spending is authorized by law.
Insofar as it conflicts with the debt ceiling law, the impossible is resolved by ignoring one of those laws.
It’s a Supreme Court matter now.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.