If the Democrats, and especially the president, were really serious about challenging the insane Republican attempt to extort unpopular plutocratic policy concessions by threatening to allow the US to default on the debt, they would embrace this constitutional argument that the debt ceiling is unconstitutional, and just tell them to pound sand.
[(Ryan Grim, in Huffington Post, interviewed on Countdown June 28 by Keith Olbermann)]
See my FDL post
29 June 2011
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(Tranferred from MY FDL)
ReplyDeleteCharles II made this comment:
Minor problem: this would be a break with precedent, in which Congress is always consulted on expenditures, and if successful would result in additional consolidation of power in an already too-powerful Executive branch.
It would also result in the issue going to the Supreme Court, which would doubtless do whatever they are told to do by the right. It would be entertaining to watch the Supreme Court rein in Executive power.
I do think Obama has a case for continuing to pay certain things, such as Social Security payments and debt interest, since these have already in effect been authorized by Congress. But I think it would be better to shut down the federal government, including fighting in Afghanistan, so that people can get a taste of what it is that the right wants to do for real when they talk about “drowning government in a bathtub.”
My response:
You make some good points, but I was specifically thinking about avoiding default on the debt, which is the club the Republicans are wielding to extort other policies. I agree that it’s a danger to consolidate even more power in the executive, but the fact is that no other country in the world has a “debt ceiling,” and the constitution (apparently, I am not a constitutional lawyer) does say in plain words that the debt isn’t subject to question, which at least some con. lawyers interpret to mean the debt ceiling was and is unconstitutional anyway.
I don’t think the real puppet masters, who art in Wall Street, want to get even close to a debt default, this time or ever, so if this were to somehow end up in the courts, you’re no doubt right that the decision would probably somehow or other keep the status quo, but the crisis would have passed, and the president would effectively have won.
Republicans in Congress don’t want to be consulted, they want to dictate terms through extortion. Let them pass their measures in the House, and then the Senate can vote them down or, if necessary, the President can veto them; the public can decide who to return to office.
Unfortunately, this president lacks courage and conviction, as well as (to all appearances) having center Right economic policy views that are considerably out of step not only with the majority of his party, but with the majority of the electorate, at this point, at least on these key issues of preservation of key social programs and making the richest Americans pay their fair share of taxes.