Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “The Reid Out” that if President Joe Biden invokes the 14th Amendment to end the debt ceiling stalemate, Republicans would not have standing to sue.
Raskin said, “I do think it’s a frightening situation. Fortunately, we have the Constitution on our side and the 14th Amendment says that the validity of the public debt shall not be questioned which to my mind means that forced to the edge by these MAGA extremists, the president has no other choice, but to respect the laws of the country and pay our bills to the Social Security recipients and the Medicare recipients and veterans and the bondholders of the country. We’ve got to respect all of those laws and the Constitution. One law about a debt ceiling cannot override the Constitution of the United States and every other law.”
He added, “President Biden doesn’t have to go and sue anybody. We’re playing defense. All he has to do is faithfully execute the laws as he’s sworn to do under Article 2 of the Constitution and respect the full faith and credit of the United States by not dishonoring the debts that we’ve already incurred. In other words, he’s just got to pay the bills. If Marjorie Taylor Greene or Matt Gaetz, if they want to go to court they have to proof how they have standing and how were they injured by other people getting their bills paid. Even if they’re somehow able to overcome that, this is a political question for the political branches to work out. Even if they were able to overcome that, well, then, they’ve got to prove somehow that their rights have been violated because other people got their bills paid and what’s their remedy for that? They’re suing the Social Security recipients to tell them to return their money to the U.S. government? They’re suing the bondholders of America to tell them to return their money that’s rightfully theirs to the U.S. government? I don’t think so.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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