Yes, in my last post I did indicate that the President has authority to exceed the Congressionally authorized debt ceiling by virute of his (or her) duty to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” (Article 2, Section 3). I think it would be a reasonable intepretation that although Congress has the power to appropriate money they cannot limit the executive’s ability to pay bills or debt resulting from previous Congressional actions. This seems to be reinforced by the 14th amendment. And if laws conflict, the President has discretion in deciding which laws to carry out.

But that is just my opinion and who knows how the Supreme Court would come down on this. Sort of like the War Powers Act in that both sides have a good argument but both also have much to lose if the courts decide that the other side has a better argument.

So we not only have a separation of powers but ambiguity and somehow it all works. That seems to be the genius of the Constitution. There is quite a bit of ambiguity in the Constituion but lawmakers add more as we go.