DEBT CEILING

Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, SECTION. 4 states:
“The validity of the public debt of the United
States, ... shall not be questioned.” For a document as vague as the Constitution that is pretty specific.

Bruce Bartlett:

What Debt Limit? Plan B is the 14th Amendment: I now feel even more strongly that the Fourteenth Amendment trumps the debt limit. There is strong support for this position in an article by George Washington University law professor Michael Abramowicz. Writing in the Tulsa Law Journal (“Beyond Balanced Budgets, Fourteenth Amendment Style,” 33:2, Winter 1997, pp. 561-612), he concludes that any government action “making uncertain whether or not a debt will be honored is unconstitutional.” As Abramowicz explains:
A debt does not become valid or invalid only at the moment payment is due. A debt’s validity may be assessed at any time, and a debt is valid only if the law provides that it will be honored. Therefore, a requirement that the government not question a debt’s validity does not kick in only once the time comes for the government to make a payment on the debt. Rather, the duty not to question is a continuous one. If as a result of government actions, a debt will not be paid absent future governmental action, that debt is effectively invalid. The high level of generality recognizes that instead of referring to payment of debts, the Clause bans government action at any time that affects the validity of debt instruments…. Moreover, there is no such thing as a valid debt that will nonetheless not be honored.

In Perry v. United States (1935), the Supreme Court ruled that under Section 4 voiding a United States government bond "went beyond the congressional power". 294 U.S. 330 at 354.

Since the entire debt limit process is unconstitutional, why doesn't the President just say so. It really makes sense that a minority in the House should not be able to hold the nation hostage to get their way.