The Debt Ceiling and the Constitution

 There is some question as to whether the debt ceiling is constitutional but I think I'm on solid ground in arguing that nothing in the constitution gives a house of congress or the executive the power to extort legislation or action for which it lacks the authority or votes to effectuate through regular order.  So whatever the constitutionality of the debt ceiling congress and the president are required to raise it so that the government can honor obligations already undertaken.  So what I'm saying is that the sole legitimate constitutional purpose of the debt ceiling is limited to periodically pointing out to the president, legislators and voters the size of the public debt.  Then if congress refuses to raise the debt ceiling the president has the constitutional obligation to ignore it.  Under present conditions the House can impeach but there are insufficient votes in the Senate to convict and remove.  If Republicans try to enforce through the judiciary, a debt ceiling default the White House can argue that:

1) This is a political question over which the courts have no jurisdiction

2) The White House can also assert that the debt ceiling in its entirety is unconstitutional but again this may be a political question over which the courts have no jurisdiction.