refusal to raise the debt ceiling ==> quasi presidential line-item veto?

[unblock]

would the refusal to raise the debt ceiling lead to a variant of the line-item veto power republicans have long wanted the president to have (well at least when they own the white house)?

if republicans remain intransigent, obama may be able to stall a bit longer (with the 14th amendment argument) but eventually the time will come when bills can't be paid without additional borrowing.

at that point, obama would have to make some "tough choices" and choose which bills get paid and which bills don't.

doesn't that amount to a sort of line-item veto power, with all the attendant problems and powes?

obama could choose to continue to pay for things he liked and not pay for things he doesn't like.
he could suspend payments for pork in the districts of the house leadership or any other congresscritter he wants to pressure.

should this practice become the norm, it might pave the way for an actual line-item veto, if this sort of leverage from the white house is seen as normal.


hopefully, we won't face this situation as i still believe republicans want to find a way out of this mess. they've made their point, i think there's much for them to lose and not much more for them to gain -- unless they actually want obama to do this because they want a backdoor line-item veto.

[bluestateguy]

1. That would be one way to shut down Guantanamo

Golly, we just can't pay for it anymore! Oh well.