Washington’s out-of-control spending has finally caught up with us. $14.5 trillion of debt. It’s like a wet blanket smothering our economic recovery. It sucks money from the private sector where real jobs could be created. It’s so bad that out of every dollar spent now in Washington, 43 cents of it must be borrowed. And a lot of that from the Chinese – endangering our national sovereignty. What to do?
I’d like to tell you that our elected representatives in Washington will finally show the necessary discipline to restrain themselves – to stop the spending without the need to amend our Constitution. But historically, Congress and our Presidents have failed to hold the line on spending time and time again. For example, there was an attempt earlier this year to restrain spending when the Republican House passed the so-called Ryan budget. Unfortunately, Harry Reid’s Senate once again failed to pass any budget at all, and President Obama chose to play politics instead of lead, and demagogued Republicans in the House for allegedly pushing grandmas over a cliff (remember the TV ad?).
So where does that leave us? Fortunately, there is some good news. As a result of the debt ceiling agreement reached several months back, there will be an up or down vote in both the House and the Senate this fall on a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution. When we last took this important issue up back in 1995 (it was part of Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America), it received the necessary 2/3 vote for passage in the House, but failed in the Senate by just one vote.
In my opinion, passage of the Balanced Budget Amendment is the only thing that will actually work over the long run to get spending under control. Without it, the inherent pressures in Washington to spend other people’s money for political advantage will always prevail over the public good. I wish it wasn’t that way – but I’m afraid it is.
I was recently appointed to a task force responsible for determining which version of the Balanced Budget Amendment will be offered, and trying to get the votes to pass it. Our first Balanced Budget Summit was held last Friday. We met with key (mostly conservative) groups who have traditionally favored passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment, to strategize. Among other groups attending were: The Heritage Foundation, The National Taxpayers Union, Americans for Tax Reform, CATO, Club for Growth, and Americans for Prosperity.
There are several key decisions we must make. For example, do we include a super majority (60%, or a 2/3 majority) to raise taxes, thus making it tougher to raise taxes and more likely that we cut spending. Now I personally favor this, but its inclusion would result in losing Democrat votes (since they don’t mind raising taxes), and therefore we might not have the necessary 2/3 vote to pass the Balanced Budget Amendment.
The bottom line is, it will take an engaged American public, urging their elected representatives to support the Balanced Budget Amendment, to finally get it passed.
I’d love to have your thoughts as we move forward on this critical issue.
