Fourteenth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionAmendment Text Annotations
Section. 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Section. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
Section. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Section. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment14/
July 25, 2011
Lawmakers split as debt deadline looms
Washington, Lawmakers were locked in a standoff on Monday over dueling debt plans that offered little prospect for compromise, increasing the threat of a ratings downgrade and default that could sow chaos in global markets
Little more than a week before the August 2 deadline to raise the $14.3 trillion U.S. debt ceiling, President Barack Obama's Democrats and their Republican rivals pursued separate budget proposals, with no clear path to bring them together.
The impasse rattled investors worldwide, sending stocks and the dollar down and pushing gold to a record high, but falling far short of the panicky sell-off that some politicians in Washington had feared after weekend talks broke down.
Market players warned of the prospects for a greater alarm and a downgrade of the United States' gold-plated AAA rating if the debt stalemate goes down to the wire. The International Monetary Fund urged swift U.S. action on its debt problems to avert negative fallout globally.
"If politicians don't find a solution right now, we are facing a disaster of major proportions," said Fidelio Tata, head of U.S. rates strategy at SG Corporate & Investment Banking in New York.
The Dow Jones industrial average, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index and the Nasdaq Composite Index were all down less than half a percent in mid-day trading.
Obama and congressional leaders have tried to reassure global markets that the country will be able to service its debt and meet other obligations after August 2, when the Treasury Department says the United States will run out of money to pay all of its bills.
Ratings agencies have warned that even if Congress raises the debt ceiling and averts a default, they may still strip the United States of its AAA credit rating if lawmakers fail to agree on deeper long-term budget cuts.
Threat to Credit Rating
A lower credit rating could raise borrowing costs not only for the U.S. government but also for other countries, companies and consumers because U.S. Treasuries are the benchmark by which many loans are measured.
Faced with such dire prospects, top lawmakers set a Monday deadline to show markets a plan.
Republicans, driven by the fiscally conservative Tea Party movement that helped them win control of the House of Representatives last November, strongly oppose tax increases. Democrats who control the Senate dislike proposed cuts to popular social programs and want some tax increases in addition to spending cuts.
The House and Senate appeared to be heading for a showdown as their leaders developed competing plans to resolve the crisis. Critics said both sides appeared more interested in scoring political points than forging compromise as the 2012 election campaign gathers steam.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, aims to raise the debt ceiling by $2.7 trillion, enough to cover the country's borrowing needs through the November 2012 elections. That would be paired with an equal amount in spending cuts over 10 years -- short of the $4 trillion in deficit savings that experts say would be necessary to keep debt at a sustainable level.
Republican House Speaker John Boehner's plan would raise the debt limit in stages, forcing Congress to confront the politically painful issue again before the election.
His plan could potentially deliver bigger budget savings through an overhaul of the tax code and a reform of expensive health benefits that are expected to balloon over the coming decade.
Boehner has promised more details on his approach when he meets House Republicans at 2 p.m. (1800 GMT).
Amid sharp partisan divisions, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday the United States must raise the debt ceiling quickly and get its debts under control for the sake of the global economy.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sought to reassure Asia, which holds close to $3 trillion in U.S. government debt, that the United States would reach a deal and avoid default.
"I'm confident that Congress will do the right thing and secure a deal on the debt ceiling and work with President Obama to take the steps necessary to improve our long-term fiscal outlook," she said in a speech in Hong Kong.
Germany added its voice to those expecting U.S. lawmakers to reach a compromise, although elsewhere there were signs of frustration.
Should the impasse in Congress prove unbreakable for raising the debt ceiling, Obama still has a constitutional escape hatch at his disposal, although he has expressed reluctance to resort to it.
He could bypass lawmakers and invoke a little-known clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states that the United States' public debt "shall not be questioned."
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