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Over the weekend, Social Security Works members sent over 20,000 messages to Congress and the President. Can you send a message today to keep up the momentum during this pivotal week?
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Tell President Biden and Congress:
President Biden should exercise his powers under the 14th Amendment and prevent default!
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John,
Section four of the 14th Amendment clearly says:1
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.
When Kevin McCarthy and his MAGA Republican caucus threaten the United States with default, they’re calling into question the public debt of our nation. It’s not just economic terrorism that could throw millions of people out of work and make seniors miss their Social Security checks, it’s un-American and unconstitutional.
A group of Senators called on Joe Biden this week to demand that he invoke the 14th Amendment and prevent a MAGA default. Can you write to President Biden and your members of Congress and urge them to speak up about the powers of the 14th Amendment?
The press is framing the haggling over the debt ceiling as a ‘negotiation,’ but the only thing Republicans appear to be willing to “give up” is their power to crash the economy―and even then, only temporarily. They aren’t meeting Joe Biden in the middle anywhere. They’re not addressing our unequal tax system, or creating a public health insurance option. This isn’t a negotiation―it’s an extortion.
President Biden must defend our constitution. After President Obama was extorted over the debt limit in 2011, he pledged to never go through that again because legislating through default threats “changes the constitutional structure of this government entirely."2
The best time for President Biden to assert his powers under the 14th Amendment was immediately after Republicans threatened default. The second best time is today. Write President Biden and your members of Congress now!
The 14th Amendment was one of the post-Civil War amendments, aimed at ensuring that the treasonous Confederate states could not take vengeance upon the Union after losing the war. The situation Kevin McCarthy’s caucus created is exactly what President Lincoln hoped to prevent with that amendment.
Members of Congress and their staffs are mostly home for the weekend. When they come back to work on Monday, let’s make sure that their inboxes are BURSTING with calls for President Biden to invoke the 14th Amendment.
Thank you,
Alex Lawson
Social Security Works
1 https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/14th-amendment
2 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/gop-debt-ceiling-hostage-strategy-takes-shape-flna8c11167344
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