Agreed, it almost borders on the miraculous.
the idea of a balanced budget amendment is great, until we get out taxes jacked up 40% to ‘pay for’ the spending we cannot due without.
Tweaking the constitution isn’t likely to have any good effect.
Lemme see if I’ve got this right. Congress screws the pooch and wants a Constitutional Amendment to stop itself from doing it again. LOL!!
(never gonna pass)
If you can't even enforce what you have, what good does amending it do?
A balanced budget amendment is NOT a good idea. Once it is passed, the Democrats/RINOs will argue that they are compelled by the Constitution to raise taxes in order to pay for increased government spending.
Sure, conservatives would argue the opposite, but then we would be no better off than we are now, except for the added insult of watching Democrats/RINOs argue that they are just meeting their constitutional obligations by raising taxes.
The following is a balanced budget:
Spending 20 Trillion = 2 Trillion Tax Receipts + 18 Trillion borrowing.
To paraphrase Bob Dylan, she wants a firm base when the winds of changes shift.
My vote is to leave our constitution the hell alone.
Instead of trying to force themselves to do their job - which they refuse to do - why don’t they just resign?
“Tar and feather” is also a viable option.
I don't want any modern day politician mucking with our Constitution; they can't see past their next election bid to be trusted to actually serve the people.
Why amend something they don't even bother to follow to begin with?
My tagline applies here.
Let the political battles between taxing and spending be fought by a current congress, when the voters who elected them are paying the taxes they set. Deficit spending merely shifts the taxes from the voters to the future taxpayers.
It is amazing what an upcoming election will do to Sen. Olympia Snowe...
Just like McCain she is gonna start looking real conservative till she is reelected.
Worst idea in American history. What do you do if it doesn’t balance? You are FORCED to raise revenue. Suppose we must fund the wars like the ones we are funding now? Raise revenue.
While I am all about balancing the budget, cuts, etc., an amendment forcing it is just plain stupid. It isn’t a checkbook, it’s a government.
I’ve read the negative comments on this thread and agree.
Even if the amendment contained restraints on raising taxes and further borrowing, and even if fiddling with the Constitution were a good idea at times, it would take too long to get it through, since 3/4 of the states must pass it.
We are in an emergency situation and need faster remedy.
What about just passing legislation? I’ve heard the idea of keeping spending to a certain percentage of GNP and others.
Holy crap. Olympia the RINO sounds like a RR.
if congress needs an amendment to the constitution to balance the budget, the solution is a new congress
The default will be to raise taxes. Ole ma Snow knows this and DeMint is playing the stupid wing of the Republican party.