Summary
* House Democrats said President Obama should invoke a little- known constitutional provision to prevent the nation from going into default if Congress fails to come up with a plan to raise the debt ceiling. Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, a member of the Democratic leadership, said he told fellow Democrats that Obama should both veto any House GOP plan for a short-term extension of the debt ceiling and invoke the 14th Amendment, which says that the validity of the nation's public debt "shall not be questioned." White House spokesman Jay Carney, asked about Clyburn's proposal, said only Congress has the authority to extend the government's borrowing authority. "The president does not have authority to raise the debt ceiling. It's not a plausible way to address this problem and we do not think it is an option," he said.
* Hospital associations, labor groups, tea party supporters and die-hard liberals are plunging into the debt battle, yet many lobbyists concede that the fight is so intensely political and mutates so fast that it's been hard to make much of an impact. That uncertainty - coupled with a widespread expectation that lawmakers will ultimately agree on a debt limit extension anyway - help explain why lobbying on the issue has been relatively low key. That's a stark contrast to the high-profile lobbying wars of 2009 and 2010 over Obama's health care and financial regulation overhauls.See the full content of this document
Extract
Wednesday's Debt Developments
* Senate Democrats are telling Republicans controll...
See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
