(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Biden on Debt Ceiling [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-05-23 I am so with Josh Marshall on the Debt Ceiling casino theory at play wrt the White House’s approach (yes, I know… again with JM). We both hope that what we’re seeing in the public eye is but the kabuki theater that needs to accompany the “inside game” that the Biden team is, in fact, proceeding with — having learned the critical lessons from the Obama administration. Josh has raised the question of what is being kept behind the curtain for the Biden Administrations response to “calling the bluff” of McCarthy — “I will blow up the World economy”. What does Biden have in his hand that would be a counter move to THAT insanity — being so very predictable from the Party of Insanity. Josh isn’t sure they have the counter-move. Since I know that the Biden folks — even without Ron K. as CoS — are really smart and good at this, I’m going to take us on a bit of a casino theory run down. And saying that I am little more than an armchair constitutional student (née Scholar) is exaggeration of the highest order let’s start with this from the other day — as I’m not sure where this is coming from…. Said Biden: “I’m looking at the 14th Amendment as to whether or not we have the authority — I think we have the authority.” He added: “The question is, could it be done and invoked in time that it would not be appealed, and as a consequence past the date in question and still default on the debt. That is a question that I think is unresolved.” My question is this — What is there to “Invoke”. Who cares if it is appealed [by whom? House GOP?] So let’s begin - Do I need to “Invoke” the first amendment in order to Speak? That right is enshrined in / protected by the Constitution as amended and only a party harmed directly by my exercise of that right can seek to suppress those rights in a court of law. They would need to be found — on balance of the facts and circumstances — more harmful to someone else’s rights than the loss of the exercise of my right causes harm (lesser harm) to me; oversimplifying of course. So Biden just continues to issue bonds as he has / as all Presidents have — to raise the non-tax derived proceeds to pay the obligations of the U.S.A. The obligations that the full Legislative branch enacted into law that Biden must obey. What happens next? The House GOP goes to court — noteworthy that it will only be the House GOP taking the position that they are “harmed” by this action, not the full legislative branch (which I am, perhaps, in the minority as believing that is highly significant) and leaving “standing” aside entirely here. They litigate against the Biden Administration saying that the Executive branch must stop raising revenue through the issuance of more debt and that the Court MUST issue a Restraining Order and make the Executive put the country into DEFAULT IMMEDIATELY. Arm-chair guy here again — THAT would really be something and make Bush v. Gore look like a questionable strike just off the plate! THIS would be awarding the runner 3rd base because the Umpire doesn’t like the Pitcher’s delivery (sorry non-baseball people, but Roberts first introduced the metaphor to the actions of SCOTUS). I can only imagine what the 3 Dems on SCOTUS would have to say about THAT and those 3 almost certainly wouldn’t permit this to be a Shadow Docket / dead of night granting of the Restraining Order. Wouldn’t the Senate — Senate Majority leader Schumer — file in the same Court the “Opposite” litigation, seeking to compel the Administration to fulfill the obligation to obey the Budget Laws as enacted by Congress. Saying that any litigation that seeks to halt the access to the REQUIRED funds needed to obey the budget laws seeks to overturn the budget laws as enacted by the entire Congress? Returning to Standing — does the House have Standing? If so, then it seems certain that the Senate has Standing. Doesn’t a restraining order for the position of the House impact both the Senate’s litigation AND the position of the Executive? If that doesn’t scream about why SCOTUS will just step out of this battle of the first and second branches of government, I don’t understand anything at all….. [Quick Political Aside — If a Restraining Order was to be any chance of an outcome here, the political consequences of the messaging that Dems could flood the airwaves with is pure electoral gold ….. so someone in the DNC and similar aligned groups, please learn to “play this game” in advance.] OK, if I haven’t lost you yet — we’re at Restraining Order possible outcomes in the Casino theory. The Biden team now has a choice; the second of which comes with a variety of next level choices: First outcome, Biden says “Piss Off” we think you’ve (SCOTUS) stepped into a dispute between two non judicial branches of government and we will work it out ourselves (which, for the record, I believe would be the response from SCOTUS on House GOP Litigating BIden’s use of raising revenue through debt — go work it out yourselves). Biden being Biden and looking to respect norms and precedent might reach back to 2000 and perhaps say something like SCOTUS did in Bush v. Gore about this being a “one shot” and not to be looked at for future disputes of this type (pretty much worked backed then for SCOTUS — at least as far as the MSM goes). Second outcome, Biden agrees not to raise revenue through more debt issuance but takes on the role of the Executive on Steroids — he undertakes any number of actions that he can do unilaterally that would otherwise be “off the reservation”. One such action could be changing the IRS “rules” for payments of taxes (not the “Tax Law”) from high profit / high revenue corporations and billionaires making over $XX Million — so those 4 tax installments for 2023 are now due on July 1st and in September you must estimate the 2024 tax liability and pay it all on January 1st of 2024. The House might Litigate again, but this would be a much more difficult Restraining Order to obtain. The end game here is not to actually (even consider) enacting any of this but rather is presenting an answer to Josh Marshall’s observation about the asymmetry between the House GOP “negotiating position” — i.e. “we will blow up the economy” vs. Biden negotiating position — m what’s the Admin’s weapon of mass destruction? The above are the two that immediately spring to mind — 1. Piss Off SCOTUS; House has only one remedy — impeachment (and I think every Dem in America would — politically speaking — relish the Gym Jordan-esque incompetence on prime time TV) and 2. I’m going Dark Brandon on Steroids — I’ve put all the chips on the table for your corporate and billionaire leash holders — “What You Got — bids to you”? And let’s not lose sight of Schumer / Senate Dem leadership role here. They have to be up for this with their “Senatorial Imperatives” primed and ready to go if the House were to litigate. Be at the Court House 5 minutes later and get that “Opposite Litigation” filed. So Dark Brandon — 14th amendment it is. Silent Bid — just keep paying the budget law required amounts and let the Goopers shit themselves with the next move. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/23/2170858/-Biden-on-Debt-Ceiling Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/