Vacate debt limit

OPINION:

The current debt limit is not an incorporated feature of the Constitution. It was conceived in 1917, with additional action in 1939. Both measures were instituted for the convenience of Congress. 

Both the 1917 and the 1939 statutory transfers of a constitutionally enumerated legislative branch power (to borrow money on the credit of the United States) to the executive branch were prima-facie separation-of-powers violations.

Under Article I, Section 8, the Constitution grants power to Congress to borrow money on the credit of the United States. This authority is absolutely free from encumbrance or constraint commonly known as the “debt limit.”

Furthermore, the 14th Amendment, Section 4, explicitly states that the validity of the public debt, as authorized by law, of the United States shall not be questioned. This means that any previous, illogically construed conceptions of a “debt limit” must now be renounced by Congress. 

In 2011, although a default on United States sovereign debt was averted, politicians allowed the U.S. credit rating on its sovereign debt to downgrade from AAA to AA+. This must never happen again, as the full faith and credit of the United States is at stake. 

Congress either must vacate the debt limit and do it now, or be responsible for America’s financial standing being thrust over the cliff into the black abyss of long-term economic calamity.

EARL BEAL
Terre Haute, Indiana