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304The 2011 Debt Limit Impasse: Treasury’s Actions & The Counterfactual – What Might Have Happened if the National Debt Hit the Statutory Limitobligations have been defended through the impoundment crisis andthe decision in Clinton, 316 and the prohibition on unilateral taxationis foundational in our country’s history. 317 An alternative statutoryargument holds that an appropriations bill, if later in time than themost recent debt limit increase, may implicitly supersede the debtlimit. 318D. 2011 Impasse: Debt Limit Would Not Likely Have BeenRepudiatedIt is unclear whether or not President Obama would have invoked anyof these arguments to repudiate the debt limit statute, if the BCA hadnot been passed on August 2, 2011, but it appears unlikely. On May25, 2011, Secretary Geithner read the 14th Amendment aloud at apublic event when discussing the debt limit negotiations, 319 signalingto some that the Executive Branch was considering invoking thisauthority. 320 However, in an official statement on July 8, TreasuryGeneral Counsel George Madison stated that Secretary Geithner“never argued that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitutionallows the President to disregard the statutory debt limit.” 321 Instead,316See id. Professor Buchanan argues that, as between the power to borrow money and spendmoney, Congress has more zealously guarded its power to control appropriations. In contrastto the Impoundment Control Act and its subsequent protection by the courts, debt limitextensions were relatively routine occurrences before 2011. Furthermore, Professor Buchananasserts that a “reasonable Congress” would prefer that the President continue to borrow moneyin excess of the debt limit rather than cancel spending to vital programs, including Medicaid.317See Tribe, supra note 144.318See Zachary A. Goldfarb, Obama, Democrats not ready to play 14th Amendment card withdebt ceiling, Wash. Post, July 6, 2011, http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obama-democrats-not-ready-to-play-14th-amendment-card-with-debt-ceiling/2011/07/06/gIQAVU1O1H_story.html. The argument is set forth by Professor Larry Rosenthal.319Tim Geithner: 14th Amendment Says Debt ‘Shall Not Be Questioned’, Huffington Post firstposted June 30, 2011, updated on Aug. 30, 2011 (available at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/30/tim-geithner-14th-amendment_n_887925.html). The clip can be viewed inthe C-SPAN video at the 39-minute mark. After reading the Public Debt Clause, he criticizedthe tactics of Republican leaders, which he characterized as follows: “If you don’t do things myway, I’m going to force the United States to default--not pay the legacy of bills accumulated bymy predecessors in Congress.” Geithner responded to this perception, stating that “it’s not acredible negotiating strategy, and it’s not going to happen.” (emphasis added).320See e.g,, Tribe, supra note 110.321Erika Gudmundson, FACT CHECK: Treasury General Counsel George Madison Respondsto New York Times Op-Ed on 14th Amendment Statement, Dep’t of Treasury, (July 8, 2011)(available at http://www.treasury.gov/connect/blog/Pages/FACT-CHECK-Treasury-General-Counsel-George-Madison-Responds-to-New-York-Times-Op-Ed-on-14th-Amendment.aspx).