McConnell's Plan B Debt-Ceiling Compromise Is (Almost) Unconstitutional (Bad Policy, Too!)
This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published July 18, 2011 on The Washington Examiner website.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s proposed debt-ceiling compromise could be a disaster. Not only is it bad policy–it also pushes the edge of the constitutional envelope.
The non-conservative Senate Republican-proposed compromise with the White House would raise the debt ceiling and give President Obama power to raise it higher down the road.
First, it’s bad policy to transfer borrowing power to the president. The Framers deliberately wanted to constrain executive spending power, which is why the Constitution requires that every dollar spent by the government […]

