As we all know, the Republican party has gone comepletly and totally off the rails. According to Steve Benen on the Maddow blog, there are rumors that they intend to pass their poison-pill laden "compromise" bill, and then leave Washington.
If that happens, the United States will default on its debts on October 17, 2013.
Here is what President Obama should say to the nation:
My fellow Americans.
Today, following more than two weeks of a government shutdown, the Republicans in the house of Representative abdicated their responsibility to make sure America has the ability to pay its bills and has left Washington, DC. I take no joy in this conversation with you.
For more than three years, some members of the Republican Party has done all they can to defund or repeal the Affordable Care Act. These efforts were defeated at judicial level, when the Supreme Court held the law as being constitutional, at the legislative level, when they could not muster enough votes to get the bills to be approved by the Senate, and at the electoral level, when you, the people, decided that you did not want a president who would repeal the Affordable Care Act, and returned me to office, along with a Democratic majority in the United States Senate. You also placed more votes for Democratic candidates in the house, but due to vagaries in how districts are drawn, more Republican were returned to the House than Democrats.
Economists from both sides of the aisle warn us of catastrophic consequences if the United States does not pay its bills. Not only will businesses who depend on government contracts go unpaid, not only will hospitals not receive medicare and medicaid funding, not only will millions of American not receive their social security checks, but the worldwide financial system will grind to a halt.
Investors worldwide buy United States treasury bonds, because it is the safest investment in the world. Because America ALWAYS PAYS ITS BILLS. If this fails, if the bedrock that our financial system is based on should shatter, the results will be incalculable. The cost of America borrowing money will skyrocket, since no one will trust America to pay its debts. Interest rates everywhere will skyrocket. The costs of borrowing money to do ANYTHING, from a mortgage to a credit card to a student loan, will increase drastically. With those increased interest costs, fewer people will be able to make those payments. Our financial system will be in a worse position than it was in the fall of 2008.
When I swore my oath of office, I promised to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. Section 4 of the 14th Amendment states that "The validity of the public debt of the United States...shall not be questioned." In other words, I, as president, have a Constitutional duty to ensure that the public debt of the United States is paid.
However,federal law also caps the amount that this nation may borrow to pay those debts. This places me, as president, in a rather uncomfortable position.
With that in mind, and mindful of the disaster which will take place if our nation does not honor its debts, I am instructing the Secretary of the Treasury to ignore the debt limit and borrow sufficent funds to pay the debts which we have incurred. This executive order will continue until Congress passes a clean debt limit increase. I admit fully and plainly that by taking this action, I am breaking federal law. If Congress wishes to take action against me, that is their prerogative. I have examined my conscience, and feel that by taking these actions I am fulfilling my duty as leader of this great nation.
Good night. May God bless you, and may God bless these United States of America.