stlouiedipalma;846319 wrote:Actually it's time for Obama to tell all the idiots "Fuck you, I'm invoking the 14th, deal with it".
My suggestion is constituional. Yours is not. Don't get hoodwinked into this folly. It would add a constutional crises on top of the debt crisis. It would pour gasoline on the fire.
The main body of the constitution is clear. The executive branch has no authority to decide how federal funds are allocated. When it comes to the allocations of federal funds the executive can only execute the will of the legislature. The power to allocate federal revenues lies in the legislature. The constitution gives the House specific power concerning the generation and allocation of federal revenue. It must originate in the House. The 14th reverses none of this. In fact it affirms it.
First off when determining the intent of the 14th we need to look at context. The context was the aftermath of the civil war. Many issues had to be settled. Its quite clear when you read the text its intent. Certain clauses in the 14th do not even apply today because those participating in the insurrection under qualifying circumstances or holding its debts are dead. It could be used to govern any future insurrections but none exist today. This is specific to section 3 and partial to seciton 4.
Here is the text:
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 4 is where some are claiming the president can find a power for the executive to order a raise in the debt ceiling or direct funds to pay debts outside of the will of congress. So lets take a closer look at section 4. In the context of the civil war its clear purpose was to separate federal debt from confederate debt. In other words if you invested in the confederacy or the institution of slavery you are shit out of luck. The federal government is not picking up your bill nor any states under its jurisdiction. If you invested in the federal government your debts will be honored with consitutional law. This clause was so necessary because those that held investments in the confederacy or the instituion of slavery were looking for legal means to recover their cash. Its not that hard to understand. Dont't listen to the talking heads. Read it for yourself.
If you are left with any doubt as to who has the power to enforce this amendment. Section 5 makes it quite clear.
The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. Not the executive, not the judicial, the Congress. Only Congress can enforce it. Any branch of the federal government that usurps congressional authority in this matter is in direct violation of the constitution.
Obama swore an oath to uphold the constitution. There are reasonable differences in the interpretation of the constitution. You can't argue away Congress's authority under section 5. If Obama wants to take that authority from congress he should be impeached. And I would support it.
