http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/04/harry-reid-obama-debt-ceiling_n_2410557.html
"As I said earlier this week, one thing I will not compromise over is whether or not Congress should pay the tab for a bill they’ve already racked up," Obama said from Honolulu, Hawaii, where he's vacationing. "If Congress refuses to give the United States the ability to pay its bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy could be catastrophic.
and regarding emergency powers , consider we have been under a declared state of emergency since September 11 , 2001 .....
WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has privately told other Democrats, including President Obama, that if the administration used its constitutional and executive authority to continue paying its debts in the face of House Republican opposition, he would support the approach, according to a source familiar with Reid's message to the president.
The simplest escape route out of the debt ceiling impasse is for the president to direct the Treasury to find a legal way to pay its debts. The Treasury then has a variety of options. One gaining particular attention relies on a law that allows the Treasury to mint a coin of unspecified value and deposit it with the Federal Reserve. Those funds could then be used legally to pay debts.
"Reid has not dismissed any option," said the source close to Reid.
The 14th Amendment states that "the validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law ... shall not be questioned." Last month, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters that "[t]his administration does not believe that the 14th Amendment gives the president the power to ignore the debt ceiling -- period."
It would be possible, however, for that statement to be true and for the president to pay the debts by citing 14th Amendment powers. If the president went the route of the so-called "platinum coin," he could use the 14th Amendment to tell Congress that the constitution gives him no choice but to find all legal ways to honor the "validity of the public debt." The Treasury could legally mint a coin worth enough to cover debts for several years and deposit that coin with the Federal Reserve. The funds would not be used for spending that isn't authorized and appropriated by Congress, but only to pay debts. The president, therefore, would not be ignoring the debt ceiling, because there would be no new debt subject to the limit.
On Monday, Reid again raised the 14th Amendment with the president in a conversation about the deal struck between Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Vice President Joe Biden. Reid noted that Obama would soon need to ask House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) for a $2 trillion hike in the debt ceiling, and Boehner would likely demand drastic cuts. "What do you do? You already took the 14th Amendment off the table," Reid said, according to notes of the call.
The president assured Reid that he simply would not negotiate over the debt ceiling. He didn't elaborate.
"I'm not going to read out or confirm specific private conversations," a senior administration official told The Huffington Post Friday, "but the president has said many times, publicly and privately, that his lawyers have concluded that the 14th amendment is not an option."
and.......
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/democrats-keep-constitution-on-the-table-85792.html?hp=l1
Democrats to Obama: Keep Constitution on the table in debt ceiling fight
With Republicans promising another climactic fight over the $16.4 trillion debt limit in two months, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Friday that if she were president, she would invoke the Constitution to raise the ceiling on her own — with or without permission from the GOP.
“I would do it, in a second, but I’m not the president of the United States,” Pelosi said.
Like many other Democrats, Pelosi is eyeing the language in the 14th Amendment stating that the validity of U.S. public debts “shall not be questioned.” Prominent Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton, have argued that language — added in the aftermath of the Civil War — gives Obama all the authority he needs to break the ceiling.
Realistic or not, the talk underscores growing liberal concern that yet another round of brinksmanship will hobble Washington and the economy — and force Obama into a bad negotiating position — just months after Congress went over the so-called fiscal cliff and then barely averted it with a last-minute tax deal.
Whether Obama could invoke the 14th Amendment to raise the debt limit is an open legal question.
But that isn’t deterring some Democrats.
Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) said on Friday the Constitution not only allows Obama to bypass Congress on the debt ceiling — it compels him to.
“I think [the Constitution] is pretty clear. He must do something about paying the bills,” Udall said. “If Congress doesn’t give him an avenue to do that, a leader needs to take a course of action if the bills aren’t being paid. That could be devastating to our economy. It could be devastating to our reputation around the world.”
The nation reached its $16.4 trillion borrowing limit on Dec. 31, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says his department is currently taking “extraordinary measures” that will only allow the nation to pay its bills for about another two months.
And after caving on tax hikes in the fiscal cliff deal, Republican leaders are promising rank-and-file conservatives that they’ll use the need for a debt ceiling increase as leverage to extract major spending cuts, a strategy they successfully employed in 2011. But a government default holds far more economic catastrophic consequences than tax hikes and spending cuts.
The president has insisted that he won’t negotiate around the ceiling, calling the threat of default an unacceptable bargaining chip in budget negotiations. The White House has not commented on other options.
But with Republicans repeatedly promising a fight, some Democrats are urging the president not to take the Constitution off the table.
“I’m one of those who thinks the president and the government has a basis for moving forward and not being held hostage by a political party — so whether it’s the 14th Amendment or other grounds, I think there are ways that the government has to move forward without being held hostage to political threats,” says House Democratic Caucus Chairman Xavier Becerra, who sits on the powerful Ways and Means Committee.
Nevertheless, the White House says the 14th Amendment is off the table, casting doubt on the legal merits of the strategy. Press secretary Jay Carney stated in December that “this administration does not believe that the 14th Amendment gives the president the power to ignore the debt ceiling — period.”
If Obama does try to lift the limit on his own, at least one Republican has threatened a constitutional counter of his own: impeachment.
“Maybe we’ll start talking about impeachment on the floor of the House here,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican who believes the debt ceiling is among Republicans’ few remaining fiscal constraints. “Really, President Obama should not try this.”
Obama invoking the 14th Amendment would amount to “a nuclear bomb,” said Rep. Kevin Brady, a Texas Republican and chairman of the Joint Economic Committee.
“We certainly wouldn’t let it stand,” Brady said, though he didn’t mention impeachment. “This is America’s debt. It is serious business and not something to play a legal and political game with.”
But while conservatives argue that invoking the 14th Amendment is unconstitutional, Democrats say that’s up to the Supreme Court.
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) is urging Obama to try his luck.
“If I were the president, I would say, ‘Here’s what I’m going to do. You want to sue me? Go ahead. Because I have just made a decision that I am not going to allow Social Security recipients to miss a check,’” Cleaver said Friday.
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), who says the president should “absolutely” keep the option on the table, said only the Supreme Court needs to worry about what’s constitutional.
“Frankly, as a member of the legislative branch, our job is not to decide whether something is constitutional or not,” the Ways and Means member said. “If we said, ‘Gee, what will Alito think on this or what will John Roberts think on that?’ we would never get anywhere. … If someone disagrees with what we’re doing, they can then take it to the court for clarification.”
Of course, not all Democrats are advocating that Obama go out on this constitutional limb.
Rep. Sander Levin, the top Democrat on Ways and Means, says the president has spoken on this front — and it’s not going to happen.
“I think everybody should take him at his word that he’s not invoking the 14th Amendment, and he’s not negotiating on the debt. Take him at his word,” he said.
“I think everybody should take him at his word that he’s not invoking the 14th Amendment, and he’s not negotiating on the debt. Take him at his word,” he said.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the top Democrat on the Budget Committee, says even floating the idea actually empowers the GOP. Republicans will continue to be steadfast in their demands and less likely to negotiate with Democrats if they believe the president can and will raise the ceiling on his own, he said.
That’s why the White House is trying to shut down the idea, Van Hollen speculated.
“I think the reason is they want to make it very clear — crystal clear — to the Republicans that there’s no way out of this,” he said. “That they don’t have an escape hatch with the president issuing the 14th Amendment.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) says Obama should neither negotiate over the debt ceiling nor raise it on its own. Instead, he should demand an increase and let Republicans suffer the consequences if they refuse to comply.
“If Republicans want to let the full faith and credit go down the drain,” Schumer said, “that's on their backs."
and.......
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/275757-obama-sends-warning-shot-to-gop-on-debt-ceiling-hike
Obama sends warning shot to Republicans on debt-ceiling increase
- 01/05/13 06:00 AM ET
President Obama on Saturday sent a cautionary note to GOP leaders ahead of the looming debt-ceiling debate, warning the Republicans that anything but a timely hike in the nation's borrowing cap represents a "dangerous game" that threatens the economy both at home and abroad.
In his weekly radio address to the country, Obama urged GOP leaders to support a drama-free increase in the debt limit, and tackle the issues of spending, revenues and entitlements in a separate context.
"The last time Congress threatened this course of action, our entire economy suffered for it," he added, referring to the protracted debt-ceiling debate in 2011. "Our families and our businesses cannot afford that dangerous game again."
The debate over raising the nation's debt ceiling is shaping up to be the next big, partisan fight in a string of high-stakes budget battles that are threatening to consume most of the political oxygen in the early stages of the 113th Congress. The Treasury Department reached its $16.4 trillion debt ceiling on Monday, but the agency has said it can shuffle funds to pay its obligations for roughly two months, setting the stage for a showdown as March approaches.
Behind Obama, the Democrats want a clean debt-ceiling hike without the burden of extraneous budget provisions that could prolong the debate and scare the markets. Republicans, on the other hand, view the debt-ceiling hike as a rare leverage point in their effort to win significant spending cuts from the Democrats.
In the summer of 2011, the GOP won $2.1 trillion in spending reductions in exchange for a debt-ceiling increase of the same amount, and they want this year's package to contain a similar balance.
In a closed-door meeting Friday, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told his conference that he'll insist that a debt-limit hike be accompanied by spending cuts, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has sounded a similar note.
“Now that the House and Senate have acted in a bipartisan way to prevent tax increases on 99 percent of the American people, Democrats now have the opportunity — and the responsibility — to join Republicans in a serious effort to reduce Washington’s out-of-control spending,” McConnell said Wednesday.
Obama, meanwhile, says he also wants more spending cuts, just not as a part of the debt-ceiling bill. On Saturday, the president vowed to seek a grand bargain on deficit reduction that includes significant cuts – as the Republicans are demanding – but also new tax revenues.
"I believe we can find more places to cut spending without shortchanging things like education, job training, research and technology all which are critical to our prosperity in a 21st-century economy," Obama said. "But spending cuts must be balanced with more reforms to our tax code. The wealthiest individuals and the biggest corporations shouldn’t be able to take advantage of loopholes and deductions that aren’t available to most Americans."
Obama also hinted at some of the non-fiscal issues he'll be pushing in the new Congress, including thorny matters like climate change, immigration reform and gun policy that foreshadow additional partisan battles this year.
"Fixing our infrastructure and our immigration system, promoting our energy independence while protecting our planet from the harmful effects of climate change, educating our children and shielding them from the horrors of gun violence – these aren’t just things we should do," Obama said. "They’re things we must do."
and regarding emergency powers , consider we have been under a declared state of emergency since September 11 , 2001 .....
https://www.boundless.com/political-science/presidency/powers-presidency/emergency-powers/
Emergency Powers
The president of the United States, as head of the executive branch, has the authority to declare a federal state of emergency.
- A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend some normal functions of the executive, legislative, and judicial powers; alert citizens to change their normal behaviors; or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans.
- At least two constitutional rights are subject to revocation during a state of emergency: The right of habeas corpus, under Article 1, Section 9 and the right to a grand jury for members of the National Guard when in actual service, under the Fifth Amendment.
- The Insurrection Act of 1807 is the set of laws that govern the U.S. president's ability to deploy troops within the United States to put down lawlessness, insurrection, and rebellion.
- The National Emergencies Act set a limit of two years on emergency declarations unless the president explicitly extends them, and requires the president to specify in advance which legal provisions will be invoked.
- habeas corpus A writ to bring a person before a court or a judge, most frequently used to ensure that a person's imprisonment, detention, or commitment is legal.
- state of emergency A government decree that a particular situation requires the implementation of pre-arranged responses on a large scale.
- insurrection act of 1807 The Insurrection Act of 1807 is the set of laws that govern the president's ability to deploy troops within the United States to put down lawlessness, insurrection and rebellion.
EXAMPLES
- The United States has been in a state of national emergency continuously since September 14, 2001, when the Bush administration invoked it premised on the September 11 attacks. In September 2011, President Barack Obama informed Congress that the State of National Emergency, in effect since September 14, 2001, will be extended another year.
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