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The conservative Club for Growth launched a new ad Monday urging Republicans in Congress to stand firm on the "Cut, Cap, and Balance" pledge that opposes increases to the debt ceiling not accompanied by spending cuts, statutory spending caps and a Balanced Budget Amendment.

The 30-second spot is part of a six figure buy that will start running on Fox News Tuesday, according to a source with knowledge of the ad. The source said the ad will run indefinitely depending on events in Congress.

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In a political role reversal Friday, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) warned that Congress risks severely harming the economy and exacerbating the unemployment crisis if it fails to raise the national debt ceiling in the next four weeks.

"While some think we can go past August 2nd, I frankly think it puts us in an awful lot of jeopardy, and puts our economy in jeopardy, risking even more jobs," Boehner told reporters at his weekly Capitol briefing.

His statement comes as a quiet rebuke to members of his own party who've argued that smacking against the ceiling -- or even defaulting briefly on the debt -- poses no great risk to the economy.

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Moody's Investors Service recently announced that if the U.S. government does not make progress in raising the debt ceiling by mid-July it might be forced to downgrade the U. S. government's current AAA credit rating.

Matthew E. Zames, chairman of the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, notes, "Any delay in making an interest or principal payment by Treasury even for a very short period of time would put the U.S. Treasury and overall financial markets in uncharted territory, and could trigger another catastrophic financial crisis."

A virtual unanimous chorus of economists likewise warns that a failure to raise the debt ceiling could precipitate a double-dip recession, while some more pessimistic voices prophesy a cataclysmic global depression.

While almost all financial experts agree that serious deficit reduction is needed, there also is a growing level of concern in financial circles that political ideology may trump common sense, resulting in at least a temporary default.

What makes the present political and economic situation so perilous is that other than citing a provision in the 14th amendment, there appears to be no other constitutionally acceptable options to possible congressional inaction or an eventual stalemate between the president and Congress.

There is, however, another alternative.

In recent decades, presidents have relied on a series of unilateral powers such as executive orders, executive agreements and presidential signing statements. The development of unilateral presidential power has been controversial.

While unilateral power can be unwarranted, there are times when it is appropriate for presidents to use these powers to promote the interests of the American people. The inherent risks of the present financial crisis are so potentially catastrophic, that unilateral power is both justifiable and warranted to prevent irreparable harm to our nation's economy and its people. The problem is that existing unilateral powers do not appear to be legally justifiable under the present circumstances.

Most economists and many business leaders believe that an inability to raise the debt ceiling would have damaging and potentially catastrophic economic consequences.

Certainly, an already vulnerable American public would suffer, with increased interest rates, delays in payment for military personnel and the elderly, as well as a suspension of a variety of other vital services.

Since our nation is currently at war in both Iraq and Afghanistan, there also is a serious risk to our nation's troops overseas and to our strategic international interests. The case therefore is strong that our nation would suffer immediate and quite likely irreparable harm if the debt ceiling is not raised.

Consequently, the current economic situation satisfies the criteria for issuing an emergency order so long as that action is limited to ameliorating the present crisis — simply eliminating or lifting the debt ceiling.

A strong case therefore can be made that the president would be acting in the best interests of the nation to ameliorate a potentially catastrophic national emergency.

If Obama and Congress are unable to reach an agreement, the only winners of the subsequent and inevitable blame game will be whichever set of politicians can persuade the public they are not to blame.

We cannot leave America's future in the hands of the usual game of politics.

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