Obama: No 'Magic Tricks' for Debt Ceiling

President rules out executive debt ceiling fix
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 14, 2013 11:30 AM CST
Obama: No 'Magic Tricks' for Debt Ceiling
President Barack Obama speaks about the debt limit in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Jan. 14, 2013.   (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Looks like President Obama really doesn't have a trillion-dollar coin up his sleeve—or any other crafty debt ceiling fix. At what he billed as the last press conference of his first term today, Obama was asked if he'd consider executive action—possibly invoking the 14th amendment—to raise the debt ceiling unilaterally. Obama ruled it out. "There's a very simple solution to this. Congress authorizes us to pay our bills," he said. "There are no magic tricks here. There are no loopholes. No easy outs."

"Everybody here understands this, this is not a complicated concept," he continued. "You don't go out to dinner, eat all you want, and then leave without paying the check." Obama was more willing to take executive action on gun control. "I'm confident that there's some steps that we can take that don't require legislation and are in my authority as president," he said, in response to a question on that. He added that he believes in the Second Amendment, and that "responsible gun owners ... don't have anything to worry about." (More Barack Obama stories.)

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