Unfortunately, Mark Levin is now teetering on the edge of kooky land. He spent a fair amount of today’s show concerning the debt ceiling. He rightly points out that only Congress has the authority to authorize spending and the 14th amendment will force President Obama to not default on the debt – so far, so good.<\/p>\n
But then he upped the ante by saying that if the President ignores the debt ceiling, that’s an impeachable offense because he doesn’t have the authority to spend money unless Congress authorizes it. That sounds nice, but it is completely wrong.<\/p>\n
Congress already HAS authorized him to spend the money.<\/strong> Back in April, Congress passed a full year continuing resolution to fund the government until September 30th at last year’s levels. The Nancy Pelosi House completely dropped the ball and passed nothing and the Tea Party House has shown no interest in fixing that prior budget year and doesn’t seem very interested in next year having actual appropriation bills. It forces them to make real decisions and negotiate with the 2\/3 of the government Republicans don’t control.<\/p>\n So the President has been authorized to spend the money, but not provided the President with either the revenue or the borrowing authority. If Congress wanted the President to borrow no more, it had an obligation to not pass the continuing resolution<\/strong> and pass real appropriations bills.<\/p>\n So this is like telling your wife she can spend $500 on clothes knowing there is only $100 in the checking account, then blaming her when the checks bounce.<\/p>\n Starting October 1st is another story – Republicans need to permit borrowing up to the already passed spending authorizations (as distasteful as that is) and focus on passing spending bills this summer with the cuts they want and take the heat it generates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Unfortunately, Mark Levin is now teetering on the edge of kooky land. He spent a fair amount of today’s show concerning the debt ceiling. He rightly points out that only Congress has the authority to authorize spending and the 14th … Continue reading