My reading of Section 4 is that it recognizes the validity of the US debt for the war, but rejects payment of any debt incurred by the Confederacy during the war. It does not give the president any authority to abrogate Congress' power to originate a budget or spend any money not authorized by Congress. One thing to be watchful of is IF a balanced budget amendment is passed it does not allow automatically raising taxes. We do not have a revenue problem; we have a spending problem. We can thank Lincoln for the income tax. Stan