WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats are saying that President Barack 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, a member of the Democratic leadership, says he told fellow Democrats Wednesday that Obama should both veto a 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."
The White House has rejected resorting to this legal tactic to keep the nation from defaulting. But Democratic Caucus chairman John Larson said that with only days left before Treasury's borrowing authority lapses, "we have to have a failsafe mechanism."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.