14th Amendment: Democratic Senators See Debt Ceiling As Unconstitutional

WASHINGTON -- Growing increasingly pessimistic about the prospects for a deal that would raise the debt ceiling, Democratic senators are revisiting a solution to the crisis that rests on a simple proposition: The debt ceiling itself is unconstitutional.

"The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law... shall not be questioned," reads the 14th Amendment.

"This is an issue that's been raised in some private debate between senators as to whether in fact we can default, or whether that provision of the Constitution can be held up as preventing default," Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), an attorney, told The Huffington Post Tuesday. "I don't think, as of a couple weeks ago, when this was first raised, it was seen as a pressing option. But I'll tell you that it's going to get a pretty strong second look as a way of saying, 'Is there some way to save us from ourselves?'"

By declaring the debt ceiling unconstitutional, the White House could continue to meet its financial obligations, leaving Tea Party-backed Republicans in the difficult position of arguing against the plain wording of the Constitution. Bipartisan negotiators are debating the size of the cuts, now in the trillions, that will come along with raising the debt ceiling.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said that the constitutional solution puts the question in its proper context -- that the debate is over paying past debts, not over future spending.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/28/14th-amendment-debt-ceiling-unconstitutional-democrats_n_886442.html

So we don't need to increase the debt ceiling to pay for those. If debt service was above revenue, I could see congress being required to raise the ceiling. I can't see the ceiling being unconstitutional because congress may not do the constitutionally required thing some time in the future.

It's a strategic default with the country instead of your house.

Subprime tax cuts. We shouldn't reward congressmen for buying tax cuts they couldn't afford.

MSNBC...Chuck Todd and Garry Epps Video...Is the debt limit unconstitutional?

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/is-the-debt-limit-unconstitutional/6blsij6

Kennedy wanted to, Wilson regretted creating it and the banksters
have been in charge ever since.

You don't take institutions and try to reform them when they are cancerous, you remove the cancer otherwise it grows back.

Using the ceiling as an excuse to default on the debt would be unconstitutional... but the ceiling itself is not.

It's almost impossible to get rid of any Amendment.