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APRIL 27, 2023
Meyerson on TAP
What
**Should** Biden Do About the Debt Limit?
Negotiating with the GOP would be a disaster, but not negotiating has
political perils, too. Which leaves-what?
So what should Joe Biden do about the debt limit, now that the
Republicans have delivered their
pay-up-or-we'll-kill-the-economy-and-blame-you ransom note?
The most telling and important thing about the GOP bill that squeaked
through the House yesterday on a straight 217-to-215 party-line vote is
how little of it deals with fiscal issues as such. The cuts it proposes
are directed at the social and environmental policies enacted by
Democratic presidents and Congresses past and present. It targets the
boosts to domestic manufacturing that have already led to companies
committing to building factories producing batteries for electric cars;
it targets the forgiveness of student debt; it compels recipients of
Medicaid and food stamps to get a job or work longer hours.
Having been part of the Obama administration's debt-ceiling
negotiations with Republicans, which led to reductions in spending that
prolonged for years the recovery from the 2008 crash, Biden has been
clear that he won't negotiate with the hostage-takers again. But where
does that leave him? To people who don't closely follow what's going
on in Washington-that is, to many and quite probably most
Americans-his refusal to negotiate as the clock ticks down to possible
default could appear irresponsible, which is precisely the appearance
that Republicans hope takes hold.
To counter that appearance, Biden will have to talk to the American
people more clearly and frequently than he has thus far. He has to make
much clearer than he yet has that acceding to the Republicans' demands
will tangibly hurt millions of Americans (including Republican
Americans), not to mention setting back efforts to counter the climate
crisis. And he will have to forcefully contrast the Republicans' plan
to cut spending on programs that have broad public support to his own
plans to raise taxes on the rich. That's an argument he can win. And
in making these cases, Biden will have to be joined by every other
elected Democrat.
But then what? That's what he has to say, over and over, but having
said it, what does he do?
I think the only way out of this fix is for him to invoke the 14th
Amendment, the Reconstruction-era addition to the Constitution which
makes clear that questioning, much less defaulting on, the debt is
plainly unconstitutional. Here's the language:
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.
Note that the language about affirming the debts incurred by
government's having waged the Civil War says that it's "including"
those debts, not that it's limited to those debts. Note, too, that the
14th Amendment was enacted in 1868, but that Congress didn't get
around to voting on authorizing the taking on of more debt until 1917,
before which, the debt limit rose without Congress even viewing the
issue as one that was subject to its consideration.
By declaring that congressional refusal to raise the debt limit would be
a clear violation
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of the 14th Amendment, and thus that it is automatically raised no
matter what Congress does, Biden would throw the issue into the Supreme
Court. If the justices are principled originalists and textual
literalists, they would have to note that the Founders never considered
giving Congress the power to repudiate the new nation's debt, and that
the "Second Founders" who amended the Constitution after the Civil War
explicitly forbade Congress, or anyone, from repudiating or defaulting
on the debt. Of course, we know that the Court's self-proclaimed
originalists are actually partisan relativists, but that in itself is a
case that Biden and the Democrats can make if the necessity arises.
Even before the Court would rule, Republicans would argue that Biden is
exceeding his powers, which would require Biden to do more of what I
outlined above: speak more clearly and forcefully than he has about the
real stakes in this battle. Those of us who don't want to see every
bit of social, economic, civil rights, and environmental legislation
enacted since 1935 repealed by Republican hostage-taking might wish for
a more forceful champion than Biden. But, hey-you go to war with the
president you have.
~ HAROLD MEYERSON
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The Real Tucker Carlson
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A neofascist who opposes corporate globalism is still a neofascist-and
a threat to democracy. BY HAROLD MEYERSON & TISYA MAVURAM
Republicans Declare War on Young Voters
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The GOP answer to anger about its abortion, climate, and gun control
crusades is to double down. BY GABRIELLE GURLEY
The Soaking at Bed Bath & Beyond
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Today on TAP: Who bought all that stock, as the retailer was on the
route to bankruptcy? BY ROBERT KUTTNER
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