Policy

Dems Insist Obama Can Unilaterally Raise Debt Ceiling

Apparently there's an "emperor" clause in the 14th Amendment

|

The White House insists President Barack Obama can't — and won't — use the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling.

But a growing number of his congressional allies are urging Obama not to abandon a potentially powerful weapon before negotiations even begin.

With Republicans promising another climactic fight over the $16.4 trillion debt limit in two months, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Friday that if she were president, she would invoke the Constitution to raise the ceiling on her own — with or without permission from the GOP.

"I would do it, in a second, but I'm not the president of the United States," Pelosi said.