Biden: ‘I’m looking at the 14th Amendment… I think we have the authority’ to raise the debt ceiling without Congress
https://dailytorch.com/2023/05/biden-im-looking-at-the-14th-amendment-i-think-we-have-the-authority-to-raise-the-debt-ceiling-without-congress/
“I’m looking at the Fourteenth Amendment, as to whether or not we have the authority. I think we have the authority.” That was President Joe Biden in Hiroshima, Japan for the G7 meeting on May 21 at a press conference, outlining his view that the President of the United States somehow has the power to add as much new debt above the legally prescribed $31.4 trillion debt ceiling established under federal law as he deems fit under Section 4 of the Fourteenth Amendment. Section 4 reads, in part, “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law… shall not be questioned.” And Section 5 reads, “The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.” So, the debts incurred by the federal government, authorized under law by Congress, “shall not be questioned” and thus, the debt obligations incurred by the federal government, authorized under law, must be paid. Right off the bat, one glaring issue for President Biden is the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling is currently established under law that Congress passed and the President signed into law. It cannot go higher without Congress.
