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In reply to the discussion: The validity of the public debt of the U.S.....shall not be questioned (14th Amendment) [View all]jeff47
(26,549 posts)10. I think it's a lot simpler than the 14th amendment
Congress has passed two laws.
Law "A" says "Spend this much money on these things".
Law "B" says "Don't borrow more than $X".
You can't comply with "Law A" without violating "Law B". You can't comply with "Law B" without violating "Law A".
When such a contradiction happened in the past, the Executive branch picked one law to enforce, and asked Congress to fix the contradiction.
So Obama can simply say he can't comply with both laws and pick one to follow - obviously he'd ditch the debt limit until Congress either raises the limit, or figures out how to stay under it.
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