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Borrowing By Any Other Name: Why Presidential "Spending Cuts" Would Still Exceed The Debt Ceiling, Neil H. Buchanan, Michael C. Dorf
Borrowing By Any Other Name: Why Presidential "Spending Cuts" Would Still Exceed The Debt Ceiling, Neil H. Buchanan, Michael C. Dorf
UF Law Faculty Publications
On three occasions since mid-2011, the United States has come perilously close to exhausting its borrowing authority under a statutory limit commonly called the "debt ceiling." In prior work, the current authors argued that, in the event that the debt ceiling is reached, the President will face a "trilemma" in which any realistic action he takes — defaulting on government obligations, raising taxes, or issuing debt in excess of the statutory ceiling — would unconstitutionally usurp legislative power. We argued that in such circumstances, violating the debt ceiling would be the "least unconstitutional option." Nonetheless, most pundits and politicians, including …