Get ready, I predict Obama will act unilaterally and unconstitutionally to lift the debt ceiling next year. This would be another brazen act by a president who is sounding and acting increasingly dictatorial. Here is the constitutional answer:
http://www.advancingafreesociety.org/exclusive/topics/economics/the-debt-ceiling-is-certainly-not-unconstitutional/
The problem is Obama will not care. And he will let the courts sort it out, figuring he won an Obamacare victory in the Supreme Court, so what the hell. Moreover, he believes by the time the courts decide, 1-2 years will likely have passed. Damage done.
HuffPo: Following the November election, Reid indicated that he would aggresively pursue a filibuster reform to stop GOP senators from continuously blocking legislation from moving forward. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) has been working with Reid on the proposed changes, which would effectively force any senators wanting to delay a vote to visibly take to the floor and talk. Once every senator had left the floor and could no longer debate, a cloture vote would be taken that would require only a simple majority rather than two-thirds of the chamber in order to pass muster.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has repeatedly slammed Democratic efforts to reform the filibuster, was unmoved by Reid’s statement.
"Well, there is growing Democratic unease with breaking the rules to change the rules,” McConnell said later Tuesday at his weekly press conference. “I think it will be very difficult for that to come about. I think it will be bad for the Senate.”
McConnell added that in accordance with Senate rules, such an effort would require a 67-vote majority, and that Reid’s approach to make the changes with a simple 51-vote majority -- a procedure that has been labeled a “nuclear option” by its opponents -- would be "bad for the institution, bad for the country."
I guarantee they'll want the filibuster rule restored if and when they lose power. Let's hope, and pray, by then, whatever the future holds, that we'll have an opposition party that understands how to use the Democrats' own instituted tyranny against them.
Reuters: The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on Thursday on legislation that would give President Barack Obama power to raise the Treasury Department's borrowing authority without congressional approval, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, said.
Democrats who control the Senate say they think they have the 51 votes needed to pass the measure but are unsure if Senate Republicans will erect procedural roadblocks requiring 60 votes to clear. Democrats hold the chamber 53-47.
Thankfully, McConnell stepped in and stopped it...
Reuters: Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday prevented a simple majority vote on a proposal to give Democratic President Barack Obama unilateral power to raise the debt limit.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid brought the measure to the floor for consideration at the request of McConnell. But McConnell refused to permit a vote after Reid said it could pass with 51 votes in the 100-member Senate. McConnell demanded 60 votes needed for passage.
