House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said that she would use the 14th amendment to pay US debt "in a second." House Democratic Assistant Leader Jim Clyburn (D-NC) told us, "The President should just use the Constitution."
Former President Bill Clinton, who Obama says should be "Secretary of Explaining Stuff," stated he would use the 14th amendment "without hesitation." Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) asserted the debt ceiling is "frankly a dead loser" because "the whole national financial system is going to say, "The entire economy of the world will collapse,'" and Congress "will cave."
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee and the second longest serving Member of Congress, argued, "It's my belief that the courts would support the President if he cited the 14th Amendment and instructed our executive agencies to pay the nation's debts." He told us that the new salary tie "is not constitutional" and "shows how superficial" the legislation is.
Top constitutional authorities Michael Dorf, former law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Kennedy and law professor at Cornell University, and Neil Buchanan, law professor at George Washington University, wrote in the Columbia Law Review in October, "G iven the balance of constitutional, practical, and prudential considerations," the most constitutional choice "would be for the president to continue to issue debt, in the amounts authorized by the duly enacted budget of the United States."
President Obama has been reluctant so far to say he will invoke the 14th Amendment. The President is by experience a state and federal legislator who has worked by successful compromise and consensus. The White House may not realize the likely Court support for paying the nation's bills.
If President Obama wants his 2nd term agenda not to be handcuffed by ongoing Debt Ceiling Games, he could seek Court support against the constant threats to throw our economy under the bus.
Robert Weiner is a former White House spokesman in the Clinton Administration and a former spokesman for the House Government Operations Committee and for Reps. Conyers, Rangel, Pepper, and Ed Koch. Richard Mann is a senior policy analyst at Robert Weiner Associates.
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