President Obama the ability to automatically raise the debt limit without congressional approval.

Email from Senator DeMint :

Fellow Conservatives:

Yesterday, a new plan was unveiled in the U.S. Senate that would effectively give President Obama the ability to automatically raise the debt limit without congressional approval.

Under the plan, the President would simply notify Congress when he wanted to raise the debt limit and it would automatically go up. In order to stop an automatic increase, Congress would have to pass a resolution of disapproval, which would of course be vetoed by the President. Then, Congress would have override the veto with two-thirds support in the House and Senate.

Given that the President could always count of the support of at least one-third of the members in both houses, this new plan would effectively give the President the power to increase our nation's debt at will.

I want you to know that I strongly oppose this plan and will do everything I can to defeat it.

I also want you to know that this is not the Republican plan.

Conservatives in the Senate oppose it and will continue to fight for real spending cuts and true budget reforms in this debate.

The conservative leaders you helped elect last year -- Senators Pat Toomey (PA), Marco Rubio (FL), Rand Paul (KY), Mike Lee (UT), and Ron Johnson (WI) -- are working shoulder-to-shoulder with me in this battler for our nation's future. And I can tell you, we're not backing down.

True Budget Reform

We believe that the only acceptable trade-off for raising the debt limit is to (1) immediately CUT spending, (2) CAP spending out into the future, and (3) pass a constitutional amendment to force Congress to BALANCE the budget every year. This is the only way to ensure that this is the last time the debt limit will ever be raised again.

Absent the "Cut Cap Balance" reforms, we will do everything we can to stop the debt limit from going up.

And if the President and his allies in Congress refuse to accept our common sense reforms, then spending will have to be cut immediately to keep our nation's debt from growing.

The President and his Administration have the authority to prioritize our government's spending so our debts are paid, we avoid default, and all essentials functions like Social Security and national defense are uninterrupted.

If the President decides to play politics with the debt limit and cuts off essential government functions to place blame on Republicans, it will most certainly backfire.

Republicans need to stop worrying about their own political careers and demonstrate the courage our country needs in this critical time.

The Way Forward

We're still a long way from victory in this fight, but I remain confident that we can win it.

First, we will need to unite Republicans around the "Cut Cap Balance" strategy. We're making progress on this front, but more work needs to be done.

Once Republicans are united in acting like Republicans, then we can go to work convincing the President and his allies in Congress that we mean business. They must know that the only way forward is to cut, cap, and balance.

I want to thank each of you for your support and ask you to continue to contact your senators and to continue to pray for our nation.

The debate over our debt is one that we must win if we're going to restore America's greatness.

Respectfully,

Jim DeMint
United States Senator
Chairman, Senate Conservatives Fund

P.S. If you want to help elect true conservatives to the U.S. Senate who will fight to stop the debt, please support the Senate Conservatives Fund today. Change in Washington means changing the people we send there.