Are they stupid? Are they concerned for the greater good? No, they’re desperately looking for ways to remain the most un-American, irresponsible, collection of people this nation has ever known.
From Fox ……
Top Senate Dems urge Obama to take unilateral action on debt ceiling
Because leftist Dems wish to continue to buy votes to retain power, by mortgaging the future of America and Americans, Dems want Zero to, once again, ignore the “little book” and twist the meaning of our common language.
If President Obama were to break the impasse with Republicans over raising the debt limit by taking unilateral action, such a move would have the potential to set off a firestorm of controversy and spark a protracted legal battle.
Top Senate Democrats say, go for it.
The White House has dismissed talk that Obama would rely on unusual measures to raise the nation’s debt limit without Congress’ approval, but administration officials also have warned that the country could default on its debt and trigger a new economic crisis if lawmakers don’t increase the limit on borrowing.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is among those urging Obama to consider options like invoking the 14th Amendment to the Constitution to find ways around the $16.4 trillion legal cap on government borrowing. The amendment states that the “validity of the public debt of the United States … shall not be questioned,” which some lawmakers believe permits a way out of the debt limit jam.
This goes beyond even Clinton’s skirting of the law by questioning the meaning of the word “is”. Here’s the text of the 14th Amendment. And some background. The pertinent part is Section 4.
The 14th Amendment to the US constitution came about in 1868. This was part of the reconstruction of the US after our Civil War. There were many questions which needed a Constitutional remedy in order for this nation to move forward from that great and terrible war. The largest question was what to do about the freed slaves. A previous Supreme Court decision (the Dred Scott case) had stated that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in the territories, and that people of African descent (both slave and free) were not protected by the Constitution and were not U.S. citizens.
The 14th remedied that decision. (Note to totalitarian nuts, this is the way to change the Constitution. Not by judicial activism, not by congressional over reach and certainly not by the whims of an idiot that clearly doesn’t understand his legal and moral obligations to the office he holds.)
The 14th also answered what to do about the people who after holding public office became part of the Confederacy.
Lastly, there was a question of the debts incurred during the Civil War. The Federal government made a lot of promises of payment and many were opposed to paying the debts from the Civil War. Section 4 of the 14th Amendment solved this question. The reading is unambiguous. The history, context, and verbiage is abundantly clear. This has nothing to do with the debts we have today. They are not remotely related and anyone holding office today advocating that this should be applied to today’s is in violation of their oath and should be removed from office. They are enemies of this nation.
The text……
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section 4. 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. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
We have laws governing how these debts come to be. Indeed, the Constitution addresses exactly how our debts may be incurred and what body of government may incur them. It isn’t proper to advocate illegally incurring debt and then claim a Constitutional requirement to honor the illegally incurred debt! This is not only a violation of their oath it is also a violation of their office and conduct of their office.
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Strange how the 14th does not mention the president at all. Indeed, section 5 says Congress has the power. Not the president.
The second failing of their part is that the US is still taking in enough money to pay the debt (interest on it). What it does not have is enough to provide obamaphones and ipads to every layabout.
Exactly true. It’s clear that congress has the authority to incur debt, not Zero or any other prez. And, yes, we still service the debt and keep many parts of the government open without increasing our debt. These people are shameful and so are the people who keep sending them to harm the rest of the nation.
I wonder what percentage of tax from gun sales and licensing went to ‘pay’ for food stamps.