Posted on 02/13/2013 11:20:57 AM PST by EXCH54FE
Senator John Cornyn, as well as all other 44 Republicans in the Senate, introduced the balanced budget consitutional amendment today in the Senate.
"With more than $16 trillion of debt, including nearly $6 trillion since President Obama took office, we are facing nothing short of a fiscal crisis. Everyone agrees that our nation is on an unsustainable path, but unfortunately as we saw last night, President Obama is incapable of tempering his appetite for more and more spending," says Cornyn in a statement.
"We must set effective limits on spending and taxes, and require a balanced budget. Families across Texas have to balance their checkbooks and live within their means, and there is no reason their government should operate any differently."
The senator's office explains what the amendment would do:
•Requirement to Balance the Budget. With limited exceptions, the federal budget must be balanced. •Presidential Requirement to Submit a Balanced Budget. Prior to each fiscal year, the President must submit to Congress a balanced budget that limits outlays to 18 percent of GDP. •18 Percent Spending Cap. With limited exceptions, Congress must limit outlays to 18 percent of GDP. •Supermajority for Tax Increases. Establishes a new supermajority requirement for net tax and rate increases. •Supermajority to Raise the Debt Limit. Establishes new supermajority requirement for an increase in the debt limit.
Goin’ nowhere........
Even if it were going somewhere.. it wouldn’t matter because any such amendment would have to have an out in case of a national emergency.
And the first time they needed more money... they would simply declare an emergency.
Perpetual ‘emergency’...........
This won’t amount to a fart in a hurricane.
Will the fiscal crisis result in a civil war?
Plus, beside being derelict in duty and accountability-averse, Congress doesn't abide by the Constitution anyway, making an amendment toothless in action. This is nothing but smoke from the usual suspects.
We have officially been in a national emergency since 1933 or so. At least, that was the justification for various laws still in effect before SCOTUS back when. If they’d ever come before SCOTUS again you probably wouldn’t need to bother defending them, but that hasn’t happened, so officially we’ve been in an 80 year emergency.
Some spending is done by the Fed independently. For instance, the no-string bailouts that lead to all those phony executive bonus scandals which people wanted to fix by illegally violating their contracts. This doesn’t add to the debt, but it is gubmint spending and does impoverish us that much further.
The best thing Cornyn could have done to balance the budget was to do a better job in the 2012 elections as head of the GOP Senate campaign to get more Republican senators elected. He made a complete mess of that. Now he plays to the audience with this. Don’t get me wrong — I’d love this to happen, although I’d set that 18% number at 10% or 15%. But you are right — it is going nowhere.
The best thing Cornyn could have done to balance the budget was to do a better job in the 2012 elections as head of the GOP Senate campaign to get more Republican senators elected. He made a complete mess of that. Now he plays to the audience with this. Don’t get me wrong — I’d love this to happen, although I’d set that 18% number at 10% or 15%. But you are right — it is going nowhere.
Snowball’s chance in h.....
Looks like he’s revisiting the balance portion of cut, cap and balance
Good point, and I stand corrected that Congress is 100% (directly) to blame for the spending. That said, the Fed is a creation of Congress. Congress, being accountability averse, has a practice of creating agencies and other entities that it can point fingers at.
Only when the freebies are cut off............
Just remember, the GREEKS DON’T HAVE GUNS..............
“the Fed is a creation of Congress”
True, and I suppose ultimate culpability is traceable to it. Same goes for the mountains of administrative law built up by the executive branch, of which Congress washes its hands and each department of which SCOTUS encourages to be their own extra-congressional congress.
ALL budgets where liabilities equal assets are “balanced”; any budget otherwise is unbalanced, and prima facie evidence of an error in the books...or hankie-pankie.
A “balanced budget” has nothing to do with borrowing or going in to debt or otherwise “deficit spending”; nor with having a surplus of some sort, as long as it is itemized, and both ledger sheets add up to the same total.
What they need is an amendment requiring that ALL spending and income be “on the books”; and that the books be kept in accordance with “Generally Accepted Accounting Principles”.
They won’t balance the budget without the amendment, and they won’t balance the budget with it because you know it’s going to have some sort of escape clause that will give them an excuse not to make the hard decisions.
8 years too late delta bravos.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.