Comments on: Car wreck: the Constitution and the national debt crisis http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2011/07/watching-the-cars-crash-the-constitution-and-the-federal-debt-crisis/ Smart Conversation about the Constitution Mon, 25 Jun 2012 20:04:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: cbill51 http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2011/07/watching-the-cars-crash-the-constitution-and-the-federal-debt-crisis/#comment-1869 cbill51 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 15:32:02 +0000 http://blog-dev.constitutioncenter.org/?p=6349#comment-1869 Todd – what about the Oath of office. If Congress chooses not to “enforce” by passing debt ceiling legislation, doesn’t the President have some obligation to act to uphold what is clearly stated in the 14 amendment??

Since the debt ceiling is basically funding laws previously agreed to, isn’t this the same as repudiation of the debt? That would seem to be clearly violation of the 14th Amendment. My layman’s read of the Constitution would indicate that Congress has to fund laws passed – yes or no? Does the Constitution really give Congress the power to defund the government and shut it down? I thought the whole idea of the Consitution was about forming and running a government, not defunding and dismantling.

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