Support Growing For A Balanced Budget Amendment

From Newsmax:

Support Grows for Amendment to Curb Federal Debt




With federal debt spiraling out of control, attention has turned to the ultimate weapon to limit spending — the U.S. Constitution.



Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, is expressing support for invoking the Constitution’s Article V to convene a convention that would consider a balanced budget amendment.



Under Article V, a constitutional amendment may be passed if it is approved by two-thirds of both houses of Congress, then sent to the states for approval, or if two-thirds of the state legislatures apply to Congress for a constitutional convention to consider amendments, which are then sent to the states for approval.



Since Congress has shown no desire for such an amendment, Cornyn and others are urging state legislatures to invoke Article V to limit the federal government’s ability to take on more debt.



“More than three dozen states have petitioned Congress to call a convention to propose reforms, and a recent conference of state legislators brought together many leaders looking to add their states to this movement,” Cornyn wrote in a Fox News piece published on Sept. 13.



“A balanced budget amendment has been linked to the idea of a constitutional convention for a simple reason: Congress refuses to restrain government spending. Our national debt is now more than $13 trillion.



“A balanced budget amendment would force Congress to keep spending in line with the people’s willingness to pay for it.”



During the 1980s, 33 state legislatures invoked their power to apply for a convention to write a balanced budget amendment, but the effort fell short by just one state of the two-thirds needed.



At the time, some legislators feared that a convention would not be limited to the specific subject of a balanced budget amendment and could spin out of control. But a report by the Goldwater Institute observes that the language of the amendment makes that fear unfounded, and points out that three-fourths of the states — at least 38 states — would still have to ratify whatever was drafted by the convention.



The Goldwater Institute stated that Cornyn and Republican Chuck Gray, Majority Leader of the Arizona Senate, “are right to urge state legislatures to reconsider invoking Article V to limit the federal government’s ability to take on more debt. No matter who controls Congress, the federal government has been incapable of putting its fiscal house in order. Article V gives the states the power to end the federal debt binge.”



Cornyn also notes that the threat of a constitutional convention called for by the states “could keep the pressure on Congress to bring the balanced budget amendment to the floors of both houses, and then to the states.”