Section 4 of the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution says:
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.
Because of this amendment, many suggests that Congressional authorization to raise the debt ceiling is not necessary, as not doing so would mean that America defaults on its obligation to pay its debt, thus, going against the 14th amendment of the constitution.
Republicans – who have stood their ground in insisting that raising the debt ceiling is not going to happen – are now scrambling to find a way to defeat section 4 of the 14th amendment. Some have suggested an amendment to the 14th amendment and others like Rep. Tim Scott of South Carolina, went even further. He wants to impeach President Obama if the President even thinks about trying to raise the debt ceiling without congress. The South Carolina representative recently told a teaparty audience;
“This president is looking to usurp congressional oversight to find a way to get it done without us. My position is that is an impeachable act from my perspective.”
There are a lot of things people say, ‘Are you going to impeach the president over that?’ — No. But this? This is catastrophic. This jeopardizes the credibility of our nation if one man can usurp the entire system set up by our founding fathers over something this significant.”
It should be noted that President Obama has never mentioned an intent to “usurp the entire system.” As a matter of fact, this president has gone the extra mile trying to bring both Republicans and Democrats to the table, in an effort to get the Congressional authorization necessary for allowing America to pay her bills.
But then again, Republicans like Tim Scott would like to impeach President Obama just for being president.
