If true, this should terrify any American who desires freedom, liberty and the rule of law. The Democratic leaders of the House and Senate are happy to break laws and violate the Constitution for partisan purposes.
"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has reportedly told President Barack Obama that he would back the president overriding congressional authority and unilaterally raising the debt ceiling.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was more forceful: “I’ve made my view very clear on that subject: I would do it in a second. But I’m not the president of the United States.” http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government ... t-CongressDemocrats to Obama: Keep Constitution on the table in debt ceiling fightBy RACHAEL BADE and PATRICK REIS | 1/4/13 7:34 PM EST
The White House insists President Barack Obama can’t — and won’t — use the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling.
But a growing number of his congressional allies are urging Obama not to abandon a potentially powerful weapon before negotiations even begin.
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.
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