Senator Cornyn: Obama Bypassing Congress on Debt Limit is 'Crazy Talk'

[JL Gawlik]

Sen. John Cornyn warned President Obama on Sunday to not even consider interpreting the Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment to bypass Congress and raise the debt limit without its approval. 

"That's crazy talk. It's not acceptable for Congress and the president not to do their job and to say somehow the president has the authority then to basically do this by himself," Cornyn, R-Texas, a former judge on the Texas Supreme Court, told "Fox News Sunday." 

The proposal that Obama re-interpret Section 4 of the Fourteenth Amendment to justify raising the $14.3 trillion debt limit has been gaining traction in Democratic circles since Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told reporters that the Constitution's language could support the president's raising the limit without congressional approval.

'The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for the payments of pension and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion' -- this is the important thing -- 'shall not be questioned,' " Geithner read during a discussion hosted by Politico in May.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and others on Capitol Hill reportedly acknowledged that the idea is percolating, and had been presented to the president. 

"It's certainly worth exploring. I think it needs a little more exploration and study," he said during a conference call with reporters held Friday.

Without addressing efforts to invoke the Constitution, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said Sunday the president and congressional negotiators shouldn't even be discussing a debt deal privately.

"Congress is the constitutional place for this to be decided," said Sessions, who is the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee. 

Asked during a press conference Wednesday whether the debt limit was constitutional, the president glossed over the question, saying, "I'm not a Supreme Court justice, so I'm not going to put my constitutional law professor hat on here."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/07/03/cornyn-obama-bypassing-c...

*************************************

The AMERICAN people should be OUTRAGED and APPALLED.

 

Write your Congressional members ALL of them at: congress.org and Speaker Boehner at speaker.gov

 

Also check down at the bottom of the page at congress.org and write to other Congressional members. This is NOT right, NOT legal and goes completely against the separation of powers, their oath of office to support and defend the U.S. Constitution and is clearly a abuse of power issue. These Democratic Progressive Liberals are drunk with power and have gone rabid to hold on to it.

 

The Constitution grants Congress the power to borrow money on the credit of the United States, not the president (Article I, section 8).  Also, look at what the rest of the 14th Amendment says:

 

"4. 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. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."  

 

It looks like 1st off, the public debt of the United States to be unquestioned would have to be "authorized by law" (the law has a debt ceiling currently).  2nd, it clearly states that "Congress shall have the power to enforce" the provisions of the 14th Amendment.  

 

Of course, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if Obama tries to skirt the Constitution some more (since he does it as often as possible).

 

What can the house do if Obama and the Democrats ignore the Constitution? 

 

First, all states with Democrat Senators must recall their Senator and contact each Republican member and tell him not to fund government if Obama and the Democrats do this unconstitutional debt raising.

 

When the Senate get enough GOP member they can impeach Obama and bring treason charges against him and any other Democrat Senators that helped him commit these crimes.

 

If we really want change it must start in the states so get busy and recall the Democrat Senators and any Republican Senators that side with the Democrats.  They the Republicans can bring charges against these criminals.

 

The AMERICAN PEOPLE need to rise up, speak up and stand up for TRUTH and HONOR.

 

[JL Gawlik]

Thank you Roma for your kind words, thankfully i am on the upswing, the worst is over. I just wish i could recover as quickly as i did when younger. *G*. Unbelievable in the Casey Anthony trial. It is a shame that the prosecutor submitted too, much trash evidence, should of just stuck to the facts. Very disappointing. I personally think she did it, perhaps it was a accidental death but she tried to cover up with lies. She is a very disrespectful, self serving young woman. It is going to be interesting to see what she does when she gets out, if like others who were found not guilty when they clearly were, there is trouble down the road. I would not want to be near this woman.

 

The parents looked shocked and left the courtroom and did not join in the celebration. They know she is guilty. Actions speak a lot louder than words. Geraldo Rivera {sp?} is nauseating me with his words saying justice was served when he was calling her a lying slut for years even though he stated he was stunned with the verdict! LOL! What a publicity hound.

[JL Gawlik]

Judicial Watch: http://www.judicialwatch.org/

 

HOW did i miss this group? JR, Roma do you both have any more great sites? It is just revealed that for each job the created by the Federal govt, it costed over 300,000.00 plus thousand dollars, jeez what a frugal Congress from 2007 to 2010!!! *G*

[JL Gawlik]

Roma, I have been sick with a horrible summer cold, still fighting it, and only posting things that hit my daily radar, which was actually out for several days in bed. Keep in mind we have a Florida Chapter of the Tenth Amendment Center and i think a Jacksonville Chapter also. The National is a great group as well as CATO and Heritage Foundation.

On the debt ceiling i see that Obama's administration says we are near a compromise which is a lie and the Dem Senator keeps issuing comments that they are near a mini deal, which i think is also a lie. They did that same song and dance in the first round in March and April, i think they issue those statements hoping the American people will pick up the message and flood the GOP with it. I have been doing the opposite at my end, urging DO NOT raise the debt ceiling. It was last raised $1,900,000,000,000.00 Trillion dollars Jan 2010 and in the first month Pelosi, Reid spent over $500,000,000,000.00 plus Billion dollars in less than 30 days. Good thing Cantor separated himself from Boehner by walking out, now they are saying the GOP is split, that is another lie, they are holding fast with the Cut, Cap and Balance Pledge: http://www.cutcapbalancepledge.com/

I am a little disappointed no governors have signed. There should be more Congressional members signed up. I guess i will send it to Rick Scott. Over the weekend we went to my sisters and her husband who is a die hard Democrat, which we have pointed out, it is NO longer your grandaddy's Dem party it died in 2010 and is now the Progressive Liberal party. He actually said that he heard a lot of negative things about Rick Scott in the news, he tends to listen to CNN, NPR and some Chinese news (i know, he is a bit strange, family is from New Jersey.) I keep advising him to listen to Fox for daily news, they are always reporting on World news during the day and some local conservative channels on the radio but he is IMPRESSED with Rick Scott, because of what he has found out that he had done in cutting spending! That is pretty impressive to impress him... and yes he did vote for O and is clearly seeing the great damage in doing so. This comes from a guy who work two jobs for almost forty years, one during the week 40 hours (he now works out of his home still with the company on his computer.) and on weekends and holidays at the Hospital in the lab. I was shocked when i found out he voted for O, he is a anti-war person. Both him and my sister, who is a strict conservative both stated we should get rid of political parties period. I do agree with them, especially with what happened here in Jacksonville this past May 2011. You vote for people not parties. I am not sure i will ever give to the GOP again, i am fed up with wasteful spending.

[J.R.]

"Debt Ceiling Filibuster? Sen. Rand Paul is Ready"

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/debt-ceiling-filibuster-sen-rand-pa...

Senator Jim DeMint, R-SC, also threatened earlier to filibuster raising the debt ceiling.

However, a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution is a lengthy process that has to be approved by the states, and is not suitable here, for the vote to raise the debt ceiling would be designed for it to occur in the immediate present. It is definitely not a timely solution to this problem.

There should be no increase in the debt ceiling until AFTER such an amendment is finalized and incorporated in the Constitution, for the Democrats and President Obama will not honor it. That would require ratification by 3/4 of the states. 

[J.R.]

Roma, it might be worthwhile to contact both the CATO Institute and Tenth Amendment Center to inquire about legal representation for lawsuits against a number of unconstitutional actions by Obama and his administration, including failure and refusal to enforce federal laws and the provisions of the Constitution.

Judicial Watch might be helpful, as well, against unconstitutional rulings by liberal activist judges that violate the constitutional rights of citizens.  Democrats have been packing the courts with activist judges, who then legislate from the bench, for years. It was just discovered that Justice Elena Kagan was involved in the legal side of Obamacare while serving in the Obama administration before its passage and she has yet to recuse herself in court actions involving it. Also, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg has repeatedly said she bases some of her rulings on international law, which is a violation of the Constitution.

This administration has consistently flouted the Constitution, federal laws, and states' sovereignty for 2 1/2 years now.  The Congress has stood by and meekly allowed it to continue without challenge. They all need to be hearing from all of us now that we expect each of them to follow their Oath of Office or be held accountable at the ballot box. Strict adherence to the law and the Constitution should be our litmus test for candidates we choose to support

[J.R.]

Here is another example of unconstitutional actions by Obama and his administration, as published on Heritage Foundation's "The Foundry" today.

"Morning Bell:  Beware Obama's Backdoor Amnesty Dream"

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/07/05/morning-bell-beware-obamas-back...

[J.R.]

You're right, Roma. The SCOTUS ruling protecting states' sovereignty does extend to the individual, or collective, citizens of the states. With that ruling, even one citizen could seek nullification by the courts.  I don't know the required criteria for a class action lawsuit, but if not barred by the new ruling, it would appear to be available as a remedy to void an unconstitutional law. Good idea by Jerry Merkyl and I would be willing to work on such an effort.

Seems to me, this ruling should pave the way for a ruling in favor of Florida, and the other 25 states that joined Florida in the lawsuit against Obamacare.  Individual healthcare is not interstate commerce to be regulated under the commerce clause. What it boils down to is a tax on individual citizens for "inactivity." Nothing in the Constitution allows that. Not only should Obama be impeached for signing that unconstitutional bill into law, the Democrat leadership in Congress should be impeached for having it written in secret, with no input or allowance for amendments by Congressional Republicans, then forcing it through Congress without allowing time for reading of it first. It was clearly an unconstitutional conspiratorial action by the Democrats that denied the people of the several states their voice---through their elected Congress members---in the passage of that bill. Speaker Nancy Pelosi's words directly before voting confirmed that when she said "you have to vote on it first to see what's in it."

The Attorneys General in the states should be all over this. Further, if the states and individuals can nullify unconstitutional laws, they can certainly nullify unconstitutional regulations as well.

[JL Gawlik]

Jeez, Roma, you are too, kind with words. I think i was all the thousands of letters and emails written since about 2007 that honed my writing although i still tend to be repetitive. *G*

[JL Gawlik]

JR, ya' gotta' LOVe Natelson!!! A friend just realized that he teaches at her state University in Montana. I will have to look up Fein. Gosh we have some much to correct and restore, thanks for the good wishes, just got back in. I did post a rather lengthy post on Boehner's FB and then posted another one after reading all the comments:

 

I am just amazed at ALL the progressive liberals who post. Why do they bother? They really do not understand that the majority of people have true principles, values and a actually moral compass, and they can tell when people are being dishonest and disingenuous like the Democratic party. Just look at their history, very disturbing.

[J.R.]

The War Powers Act(Resolution) is definitely unconstitutional, for it alters the Constitution without first going through the constitutionally mandated process of amending the Constitution in order to change it. There are only two means of changing the Constitution and they both require the amending of it. An Amendment can be initiated and approved by a 2/3 majority vote of both chambers of the U.S. Congress or on the Application of the Legislatures of 2/3 of the several States that would call a convention for the purpose of Amendments. Amendments would be passed and made a part of the Constitution when ratified by the Legislatures of 3/4 of the several Sates, or by Conventions in 3/4 of the states. There's no other way to amend/change the Constitution. (U. S. Constitution, Article V.)

The War Powers Act (Resolution) is a law---an unconstitutional one---no matter what President has used it or who approves of it. The Constitution has never been amended to repeal Article V or change it in any way. Here is a link to the best source online for those who want to really understand what is in the Constitution: http://www.i2i.org/robnatelson.php

Rob Natelson is a renowned Constitutional scholar who believes the Libya War is unconstitutional. He was a professor of Constitutional Law and Advanced Constitutional Law for 24 years. His website is a wonderful resource on the Constitution.

Bruce Fein, the constitutional lawyer who drafted the Articles of Impeachment that were successful in the impeachment of Bill Clinton, has also drafted Articles of Impeachment against Barack Obama based upon his (Fein's) opinion that the Libya War is unconstitutional.

As for Obama's implied threat that he would raise the debt ceiling unilaterally, that is clearly unconstitutional, for only the Congress controls the purse. All bills/potential laws related to money are required to originate in the U.S. House of Representatives. However, we do know that Obama eschews the Constitution and has violated it in numerous areas, two of which I will mention here.  He has usurped powers belonging only to Congress by taking it upon himself to involve this country in the Libya war and several secret wars going on now, in coordination with the United Nations.  He has also usurped the power to legislate, by using the regulatory process to, in effect, create backdoor laws (legislation). The only mention of regulatory power granted by the Constitution was that granted to the Congress.

Kudos to the Supreme Court for ruling to uphold the sovereignty of the states to interposition against or nullify laws that are unconstitutional. This is a strong ruling for states' rights and will serve as a buffer against tyranny.