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Townhall...
Balanced Budget
Amendment Vital to America’s Future
By Ken Klukowski
Editors’ note: this column was co-authored by Ken Blackwell.
On Mar. 31, Senators Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee introduced a Balanced
Budget Amendment (BBA) to make it a constitutional requirement for
Washington, D.C., to end our deficit spending and culture of debt. And
our national grassroots organization, Pass the Balanced Budget
Amendment, is working with them to compel lawmakers to approve this
change to the Supreme Law of the Land.
The BBA requires that the U.S. cannot spend more than it takes in,
making the federal government act just like most state governments, and
for that matter just like all of you reading this column.
There are a few emergency exceptions, such as allowing two-thirds of
the House and Senate to suspend it for a specific reason for one year,
with lower thresholds to respond to a military threat to our national
security or an official, declared war against a specific nation (not
some open-ended or global military operation).
But with the exception of an all-out war, those exceptions only apply
if there’s the political will for a supermajority of Congress to
support it. If those of us who fought to get the right people elected
in 2010 keep those efforts up in 2012 and beyond, then we can finally
force Congress to live within its means.
The amendment is cosponsored by all 47 Senate Republicans. This raises
eyebrows in that the last time a proposed BBA was voted on, 1997, it
enjoyed Democratic support with 66 votes, falling a single vote short
in the Senate. (It also means that we need some solid constitutional
conservatives to win a few more Senate seats.)
A separate story here is Utah’s leading role. That state’s senior
senator, Orrin Hatch, designed one version of the BBA. Utah’s junior
senator, Mike Lee, designed another. Both senators—one tied as the most
senior Republican in the chamber and the other among the newest—then
designed a composite version.
The resulting BBA addresses several major economic priorities. In
addition to forcing a balanced budget, the BBA caps federal spending at
18% of GDP. It also requires a 60% vote to raise the national debt
limit. It requires a two-thirds vote to raise taxes. And in forbids
courts from ordering any tax increase. The BBA thus addresses multiple
aspects of fiscal policy in a full-spectrum response to America’s
debt-and-deficit nightmare.
Utah’s predominance regarding a constitutional amendment is no
surprise. Senator Hatch is the former chairman of the Senate Judiciary
Committee and was talked up as a potential Supreme Court nominee years
ago. Senator Lee is the only former Supreme Court law clerk in the
Senate—having served under conservative Justice Samuel Alito—and is
already mentioned as a potential Supreme Court nominee. These two
senators may be bookends in seniority and age, but they are the
foremost constitutional scholars in the Senate. The Beehive State is
well-served on this critical issue by the two men representing them in
the U.S. Senate.
The Constitution is extraordinarily difficult to amend, requiring
two-thirds of the House and Senate to propose it to the states (that’s
67 and 290, respectively), then three-fourths of the states (38) to
ratify it.
To turn the BBA into reality, Senators Hatch and Lee are working with a
national grassroots organization, Pass the Balanced Budget Amendment,
to organize volunteers in every legislative district in America to
mobilize political momentum.
We are very grateful to have Senators Hatch and Lee as Honorary
Chairman. With their leadership, as well as others such as Co-Chairman
Ken Buck of Colorado, the BBA has the best chances of passing since
America’s fiscal mismanagement began decades ago.
This is not just about economic conservatives. We must balance our
national budget for the sake of our children’s future. And our national
debt has now become a national security concern as well. This is the
perfect fusion of the three legs of the Reagan Coalition, and will
benefit all Americans.
There are also serious political implications. The BBA should change
the national debate. With several GOP presidential contenders endorsing
the idea, this will very likely be an issue for the 2012 elections.
Those of us involved at the grassroots level with this issue and
determined on making it so.
Read it at Townhall
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