Worst Case Scenario: Maddow Explores If Obama Can Legally Override Congress On Debt Debate
As time goes by and Congress shows no visible progress in coming to a compromise on the debt debate, both sides are beginning to seek legal alternatives to legislation. On tonight’s program, Rachel Maddow and Yale Law Professor Jack Balkin filtered through the Constitution for a Presidential escape hatch, and Balkin seemed to find one: Presidential emergency powers can, at the last minute, allow the President to thwart Congress’s refusal to pass a budget.
Maddow noted that it appeared that the number of Republicans open to allowing America to default on its debt is growing, and that the party in general seems “to be less likely to raise the debt ceiling.” No matter what Gang of 6 “happy talk” may be saying, the “craziness in Congress” left President Obama little alternative. Balkin agreed that it was possible Congress would default, but there was a last-minute escape for President Obama.
While he “can’t do it unless it is an absolute, dire emergency,” Balking noted, President Obama could draw upon emergency powers to pass a budget. It was a situation Balkin considered highly inadvisable. “We really don’t want a situation where the President does this,” as he explained that the situation put President Obama at a crossroads between “the law appropriating money, the debt ceiling law, and the Constitution.”
Given the disparities between the three in this particular situation, Balkin noted that he would have to choose one to abide by– likely the appropriations law. That, however, didn’t get America out of the woods– the new debt created by the appropriations move may be official, but the free market doesn’t have to perceive it that way. “There is no guarantee that the markets would accept this new debt as valid,” Balkin argued.
The segment via MSNBC below:
