Biden declares himself “blameless” if US defaults on debt, says “MAGA Republicans” are trying to crash the economy to sabotage his re-election bid
Biden: “I’m looking at the 14th Amendment as whether or not we have the authority”
The Daily Mail quotes Dementia Joe as he tries to weasel out of the homework he should have been doing since January (but didn’t start until last week).
President Joe Biden on Sunday said he would consider using the 14th amendment to solve America’s debt limit but conceded it is probably too close to the June 1st default deadline to use it in this round.
‘I’m looking at the 14th Amendment as whether or not we have the authority,’ he said at a press conference in Hiroshima.
‘I think we have the authority. The question is could it be done and invoked in time that it would not be appealed and, as a consequence, pass the date in question and still default on the debt?’
(Read more at the Daily Mail)
Rather than inventing a 14th Amendment authority, why not return to policies that work and allow Americans to recover from Biden’s first two-plus years?
Rather than spending us into oblivion and spurring who-knows-how-much-more inflation, why not go to the model that recently brought us out of the “Great Recession?”
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Pelosi tantrum on the 150th Anniversary of the 14th Amendment
In a toothless poke by Nancy Pelosi at President Trump on 9 July 2018, San Fran Nan suggested that the 14th Amendment primarily made us equal before the law (thus somehow invalidating President Trump’s then-recent appointment of a conservative to the Supreme Court in favor of a LGBTQ-friendly selection she would have made).
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement to mark the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the 14th Amendment, which lays out the rights of citizenship, access to due process and guarantees equal protection under the law to all people in the United States:
“One hundred and fifty years ago, with the ratification of the 14th Amendment, our nation took a monumental step forward in its ever-advancing march toward a more perfect union. By expanding the rights of citizenship and due process and guaranteeing equal protection under law, the 14th Amendment righted historic wrongs by overturning the outrageous, immoral Dred Scott decision. This landmark amendment soon paved the way for many of our nation’s most important legal and legislative victories, including the desegregation of schools, a woman’s right to choose and marriage equality.
“On this historic day, the protections guaranteed in the 14th Amendment are under dire threat from a Republican Administration and Congress determined to undermine the health, safety, civil rights and financial security of hard-working Americans. President Trump’s nominee to replace Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy places a generation of progress for women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, voting rights, workers’ rights and health care in peril. All of President Trump’s potential nominees are prepared to dismantle our nation’s promise of liberty, equality and opportunity for all, and to radically alter the course of American justice for decades to come.
“The rights enumerated in the 14th Amendment are fundamental to our democracy and to our values as a nation where all are created equal. While Republicans work to undermine these values and weaken our democracy, Democrats will stand firm against these outrageous attacks as we continue our work to build a freer, fairer and more just future for everyone.”
(Read this at Nancy Pelosi‘s site, if you like)
I say that selection of a conservative justice over one that favors a 2% which firmly resists righteousness seems like a choice that favors all
A proverb that seems very apt to this situation might explain the groaning in America as of recently:
When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, But when a wicked man rules, people groan. (Proverbs 29:2 NASB)
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Pelosi says 14th Amendment makes the debt ceiling unconstitutional
Slate works as the “way-back machine” as it quotes Nancy Pelosi in a 20 June 2012 article where she said that the 14th Amendment made the debt ceiliing unconstitutional.
At a lunch roundtable with columnists earlier today, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi urged President Barack Obama to avoid a new debt-ceiling showdown by stating that a statutory borrowing limit is inconsistent with Section 4 of the 14th Amendment, which states that “the validity of the public debt of the United States … shall not be questioned.”
She at first referred to this possibility obliquely while making a larger point about the lack of cooperative spirit between the Republican Party and the Obama administration but clarified her stance in response to further questions saying, “I would like to see the Constitution used to protect the country’s full faith and credit.” She didn’t offer a legal argument in favor of the position but argued on policy grounds that “you cannot put the country through the uncertainty” again, noting that America’s sovereign debt was downgraded by ratings agencies in the wake of the standoff even though it was successfully resolved.
“This isn’t just about credit ratings,” she said, “it’s about the dynamism of our economy.”
Speaking last summer, former President Bill Clinton also endorsed this approach and anonymous members of Congress alleged that Pelosi privately supported it. Obama, however, has indicated that his administration’s lawyers are not persuaded the constitutional argument is correct. In my experience discussing this with constitutional scholars, the key point is less about the merits of the argument per se than it is about whether there’s anything the courts could or would do to prevent a president from acting unilaterally in this regard. Most people I’ve spoken to feel that this would be a classic nonjusticiable political question and no court would issue a restraining order enjoining the Treasury Department from issuing additional debt.
(Read more at Slate)
Here is one time that I agree with Pelosi
However, this agreement comes from polar opposite stances politically. Hers seems to be one of figuring how to twist the Constitution to fit a modern/progressive/socialist agenda. Mine comes from trying to figure what the founders meant as I read it during work breaks.
While I don’t hold a degree in Constitutional law, my reading of the Constitution finds enough commonality between the Word of God and our founding document that there would be common themes. And, while I cannot prove it, one of those themes seems to be a chance for forgiveness. Because, on one hand, our nation was largely founded by people seeking to start anew and, on the other hand, our God is the model of the Father of the Prodigal son (running out to meet him and covering his rags with luxurious robes), our Constitution would offer to its people the chance to start over. However, in order to maintain the stability needed for such forgiveness, such a standard would not be afforded to the government. Our government must operate at a higher level.
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President Obama backs away from invoking 14th Amendment on debt ceiling
NBC News reported in a 14 January 2013 article how Obama backed away from using the 14th Amendment to push up the debt ceiling.
Obama backs away from invoking the 14th Amendment to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling, but would it even worked if he tried to do it?
At a press conference Monday, President Obama confirmed that he would not use the 14th Amendment to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling unless both houses of Congress gave him the express authority to do so.
“If [Congress] wants to put the responsibility on me to raise the debt ceiling, I’m happy to take it,” he said. “But if they want to keep this responsibility, then they need to go ahead and get it done.”
While top Democrats have urged him to look more closely at unilateral options, Obama continues to hold Congress responsible for making good on the debts its own appropriations have incurred.
But if Republicans refuse to raise the debt ceiling, as some have suggested doing, Obama may have to act unilaterally if he wants to avoid a government shutdown. In this scenario, would the President have legal authority to raise the federal debt limit via the 14th Amendment?
Here is the section in question, Section 4 of the 14th Amendment:
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.
A Reconstruction-era Amendment, Section 4 was added for two reasons. First, Union lawmakers were eager to affirm that debts incurred by the Confederate South would not be honored by the United States or any other country. This safeguarded Congress from years of disruptive politics. Second, they saw the necessity in guaranteeing the federal debt in case rebel sympathizers returning to Congress threatened to repudiate it for political ends.
Section 4 includes “pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion” as an illustrative example of the kind of debt that would be guaranteed. In other words, compensation for soldiers and their widows was safe from the whims of future Congresses.
(Read more at NBC News)
As for myself, I trust Obama not to get himself in such a bind that the majority of Republicans in the House impeach or override him
If there is anything I trust about Obama, it resides in his self-interest. Therefore, if Dementia Joe has any reason or any reasonable advisors, it would be a good idea for him to steer clear of using the 14th Amendment to stave off what he sees as a problem. Of course, by increasing debt, he will likely increase our inflation and might push the US out of the market of being the world’s reserve currency.
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