Boehner waiting at the alter

Don't crow, it looks like Reid's plan might not make it out of the Senate, either. With the $500 billion less that estimated, it would mean the ceiling would once more be reached right before the elections.

mr interventor:

Actually, and I know this is far and away NOT what you subscribe to as a solution, I feel that given all of the theatrics and posturing involved by both political parties, the intelligent thing for President Obama to do is raise the debt ceiling through executive order and let the chips fall where they may.

It would require that he "grow a pair" but I think this would prove to be the right thing after all was said and done.

It would not be constitutional nor would it prevent the downgrade of credit.

The argument is that a default would put the “validity of the public debt” in jeopardy, thus violating the 14th Amendment. And since the president took a vow to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution” it would then be his responsibility to ensure that the country does not default.

But constitutional scholars are divided over whether the amendment would, in fact, justify the president to unilaterally take action on the debt ceiling.

Laurence Tribe, a constitutional scholar at Harvard University and one of President Obama’s former professors, told ABC News earlier this month that the 14th Amendment must be upheld by Congress, not by the president.


“It’s a tempting [argument], but I think it’s fundamentally fallacious because it assumes that the executive branch is the branch of government that has the ability to enforce the 14th Amendment. Section 5 makes clear it is Congress that has that power,” Tribe said.

In his testimony before the House Financial Services Committee today, the president of the credit rating agency Standard & Poor, Deven Sharma, said, "The more important issue is the long-term growth rate of the debt.”

Tribe also argued that if Obama went it alone, “It’s anybody’s guess how much confidence creditors around the world would have that those debts would be repaid.”

“I think it is something that should be avoided at all costs,” Tribe said. “The idea of violating the Constitution without the guarantee that it would solve the economic crisis seems particularly unwise.”

Plus, Geithner would be charged with the Deficiency Act and personally responsible for all debt beyond the revenue collected, it convicted.  As, would Obama.

Even then,  the credit agencies are demanding a plan to pay down the debt.  Cutting the deficit about 10 percent a year would meet their requirements.