As the Debt Deadline Approaches A political extortionist named Ted Cruz and his Tea Party associates have been threatening harm to the government unless the president agrees to make political concessions. As we get closer to the debt limit deadline, the president will be under huge pressure to cave in if he believes that the Republicans are just crazy enough to put the country's well-being in jeopardy. That's why it's so important to disarm them. Here's how to do it. First, put the government back to work. The House has enacted legislation assuring furloughed workers full back pay when they finally return to work. Once the Senate goes along, it would be economically insane to continue their furloughs. We would be paying hundreds of thousands of people for doing nothing. Why not simply say in the second week of the shutdown that all government workers are essential? That's what Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has done. Once everyone's back to work, invite the Republicans to enter into real negotiations on long-term budget issues. Second, avoid the possibility of default on the nation's debt. The 14th Amendment declares that "the validity of the public debt ... shall not be questioned." President Obama has argued, quite correctly I believe, that such a provision does not give the president unilateral power to oust Congress from ultimate power over the debt. But, as Prof. Sean Wilentz argues ("Obama and the Debt," Op-Ed, Oct. 8), it does give the president emergency power to take steps to prevent default on the debt when Congress does not act. Our history is replete with examples of emergency presidential action that was taken subject to later Congressional ratification. Do it, Mr. President. Take Ted Cruz's weapons away, and get down to negotiating with the sane wing of the Republican Party. The writer is a professor of civil liberties at New York University Law School. In his Op-Ed article arguing that President Obama has emergency powers to enforce the 14th Amendment's command to honor the debt of the United States, Sean Wilentz omits one crucial point: where is the power to be found? What provision of the Constitution would authorize President Obama to take unilateral action to honor the nation's debt? Previously, when presidents claimed emergency executive authority, they creatively interpreted specific constitutional clauses to derive authority to act. President Obama and his advisers correctly recognize that there is no such clause suiting this crisis. Would that there were. The writer, a constitutional historian, teaches at City College of New York and New York Law School. Sean Wilentz argues that President Obama has the constitutional power to avoid default if Congress does not act, while attempting to refute Prof. Laurence H. Tribe, who thinks otherwise.In so doing he acknowledges the chaos that might follow if Mr. Obama acted unilaterally, including House efforts to impeach him. Whichever legal scholar happens to be correct is of no moment. The very fact that such pre-eminent authorities disagree, coupled with the resulting Congressional dysfunction, dooms the Wilentz proposal because all Treasury debt issued pursuant to unilateral action would be so clouded with legal uncertainty that investors would probably either shun it altogether or demand very high interest rates. Mr. Obama is correct in demanding that Congress do its duty and extend the debt limit, and he should avoid any hint that he might act alone.