Even with year-end budget talks at a standstill, the White House said Thursday it will not do an end-run around Congress and claim constitutional powers to raise the debt ceiling on its own.
White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters Mr. Obama thinks that only Congress can raise the debt ceiling — the legal limit on how much the U.S. Treasury can borrow.
He shot down an argument that’s gained traction among liberal advocates and some Democrats on Capitol Hill that the Constitution already guarantees all federal debt, so the borrowing ceiling is irrelevant.
“The administration does not believe the 14th Amendment gives the president the power to ignore the debt ceiling — period,” Mr. Carney said.
His words come as all sides are negotiating to head off the “fiscal cliff” — the looming expiration of tax cuts and imposition of automatic spending cuts. The $16.4 trillion debt ceiling, which the federal government will hit at the end of this year, has become a new focal point in the conversations.
After analysts said last year’s brinkmanship put the government on the edge of default, Mr. Obama has called for Congress to turn over debt authority to him altogether.
On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, proposed to hold a vote on that proposal — apparently hoping enough Democrats would vote against it that it would embarrass the president.
But hours later, Senate Democrats agreed to hold a vote, forcing Mr. McConnell to filibuster his own proposed vote.
“This morning, the Republican leader asked consent to have a vote on this proposal. Now I told everyone that we are willing to have that vote, up-or-down vote. Now the Republican leader objects to his own idea. So I guess we have a filibuster of his own bill,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the chamber’s top Democrat.
Mr. McConnell countered that big issues like this one always take 60 votes to pass the Senate, so it wasn’t unusual to hold it to that standard.
Right now the government’s debt stands at $16.3 trillion and will bump up against the limit later this month, although the Treasury Department has tools it can use to delay crossing the line through early next year.
Republicans want Mr. Obama to agree to deeper spending cuts in exchange for them allowing more debt authority — the same deal they struck last summer.
House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, argues that any increase in the debt limit must again be matched by greater amounts of deficit reduction.
But the president warned Republican leaders not to go down that road. The 2011 fight sent stocks plunging and prompted Standard & Poor’s to downgrade the U.S. credit rating, he said.
During remarks to corporate CEOs at the Business Roundtable on Wednesday, Mr. Obama said he would not “play that game again,” arguing that another debt-ceiling fight would be a “catastrophe” for the nation.
View Entire Story© Copyright 2013 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
Susan Crabtree is an award-winning investigative reporter with more than 15 years of reporting experience in Washington, D.C. Her reporting about bribery, corruption and conflict-of-interest issues on Capitol Hill has led to several FBI and ethics investigations, as well as consequences for members within their caucuses and at the ballot box. Susan can be reached at scrabtree@washingtontimes.com.
Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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