Democrats urge Obama to take action on debt if required

Northern, WI 1/13/2013 (avauncer) –Senate Democratic heads advised President Obama to take necessary steps to meet country’s financial obligations whether republicans back or not for increase in debt-limit that was acceptable to Democrats.

Republicans vs. Democrats

This letter heightens the dispute between Republicans and Democrats regarding the U.S.’s year-end borrowing limit. The Republicans are opposed to increasing the borrowing limit without decreasing the expenditure whereas the Democrats have recommended invoking the 14^th amendment of the Constitution and issuing a platinum coin of $1 trillion face value for paying government bills.

Two Republicans, John Boehner of Ohio who is a House Speaker along with Minority Leader of Senate Mitch McConnell from Kentucky, said they expect substantial cuts in expenditure in return for increase in debt-ceiling; the decrease in spending must be equal to or more than the increase in ceiling. But Jay Carney, spokesman for White House, informed reporters that the Obama administration would not negotiate with the Republicans regarding their demand.

Special Measures and the 14^th Amendment

McConnell observed that the Democrats were trying to bypass the law and forego the responsibility for indiscriminate spending. Avoiding the problem would aggravate it, and many saw the debt-limit issue as a good opportunity to tackle Washington’s expenditure problems. Since December 31 when the U.S. reached the legal borrowing limit, the Treasury has used special measures to finance the government; and they are expected by the Congressional Budget Office to last till mid-February. Carney also said that the president was not empowered to unilaterally increase the limit under the 14^th amendment, as argued by some Democrats like Nancy Pelosi.