House Dems Say President Can Raise Debt Ceiling

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats say President Barack Obama should consider invoking a little-known constitutional provision that they say gives him the power to raise the debt ceiling without going through Congress, where Republicans are demanding that a debt ceiling vote be linked to spending cuts.

The Democrats said in a letter that they would support the use of any authority, including the 14th Amendment, to prevent the nation from going into default, an event that some economists predict could trigger a global recession.

That post-Civil War amendment contains a section stating that “the validity of the public debt of the United States…shall not be questioned.”

As of Wednesday 21 Democrats, led by Rep. Peter Welch of Vermont, had signed the letter.

Raising the federal borrowing limit is now subject to congressional approval, which traditionally has come with relatively little resistance. But in July 2011 Republicans tied their vote on the debt ceiling to concessions on spending, generating a confrontation with the Obama administration and resulting in the first-ever ratings downgrade of the nation’s credit-worthiness.

The government faces a similar crisis now because the $16.4 trillion borrowing limit has been reached and by late February or early March the Treasury Department will run out of ways to cover debts and could begin defaulting on government loans.

Read more here: http://washingtonexaminer.com/house-dems-say-president-can-raise-debt-ceiling/article/2518036?custom_click=rss#.UO4KX3d3SgI

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