WASHINGTON (Official Wire) — President Barack Obama’s top Democratic allies in the Senate advised him Friday to consider “any lawful steps” to make sure the government does not default of its debts and spur an economic crisis — even if it means acting without approval by Congress.
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.
The government hit the debt limit last month and is juggling the books to buy additional time for Congress to act. But those moves only buy a few weeks of wiggle room, which requires Congress to act — likely by mid- to late-February — to avoid a market-quaking default on U.S. obligations.
The White House has said emphatically that it does not believe that the 14th Amendment permits Obama to ignore the debt cap on U.S. borrowing, though it considered the question during the 2011 debt crisis.
“There is no Plan B. There is no backup plan,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday. “There is no alternative to Congress raising the debt ceiling.”
Read more at Official Wire. By Andrew Taylor.
Photo Credit: Talk Radio News Service (Creative Commons)
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There is absolutley nothing “LEGAL” about this gang we call a government!!!!!!
Dingy Harry Reid is a dinkhead and the old bird needs to go to the old folks home before he declares Obutthole king.Dingyis the biggest crook going as I have said before he came in poor and will leave te senate a multimillioaire.