Our Constitution’s 14th Amendment, Section 4 states, “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law… shall not be questioned.”
This implies Congress cannot create a situation that would cause our great nation to renege on its debts (an impending situation instigated by a small group of intractable congressmen with an axe to grind against the ACA, congressmen refusing to vote to raise our debt ceiling).
Under our Constitution’s Section 4, it would seem more than likely that a debt ceiling, if challenged all the way to the Supreme Court, would be declared unconstitutional anyway.
Our Constitution’s Article 2, Section 3, delineates presidential responsibilities. One of the president’s listed responsibilities includes: “He shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”
Although I am not an attorney, not a congressman, nor a president of anything, I can read! Even for me, an average citizen, one and one adds up to two.
If our Constitution states that “the validity of the public debt of the United States shall not be questioned” and it states that the president “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” it appears the time has come for the president to consider superseding Congress and raising the debt ceiling himself.
In 1831, the Supreme Court (United States v. Tingey – 30 U.S. 115) observed that in faithfully executing the law, “The president is bound to avail himself of every appropriate means not forbidden by law.”
Last I looked at our Constitution, I did not observe any clause specifically forbidding the president to raise the debt ceiling.
To maintain our nation’s credibility and credit on the international stage, I believe it behooves the president to act quickly and decisively by raising our country’s debt ceiling himself, thereby, preventing an international crisis caused by stubborn congressmen.
If litigation ensues contesting such action by the president, at the very least there would be a time-extension for self-reflection by self-righteous congressmen who are ignoring their “how to repeal an act” manuals and thereby tarnishing our nation’s reputation.
Kathleen Rittel
East Williston
