I guess it’s just due diligence but it’s good to know that the Treasury Department has been exploring the implications of using the 14th Amendment to declare a congressional debt limit unconstitutional. While the White House has so far been dismissive of the idea, recent rhetoric could be an indication that they’re prepared to make the case to the American people. The argument basically, is this:

“We put everything on table, including our own sacred cows, including Social Security, and they wouldn’t budge. This administration has a Constitutional obligation to pay our government’s debts. Section 4 of the 14th Amendment states, “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.” Driven by ideology, the Republicans behave as if they have the power question the validity of our public debt. They don’t have that power. I won’t allow our debt to be questioned, nor will I stand by while the Republicans wreck the global economy which is just struggling to get to its feet after eight years of neglect and mismanagement.”

On the other hand, the Republicans are acting like there is a 50-50 (or better) chance of a deal being struck in the next 48 hours.

That leaves us with basically nothing to talk about. We’ve heard some nasty rumors about what might be in the deal, but we have almost nothing to go on in terms of what the overall package will be.

I’m waiting to hear what’s under the Christmas tree, because cuts to Social Security are mighty hard to justify. We should have a huge surplus of cash to pay for Social Security, but rich people stole that money so that we could run up huge deficits while they enjoyed low taxes. It’s those same rich people who should pay that money back now.

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