Senate GOP Demand Balanced Budget Amendment for Raising Debt Ceiling

March 25, 2011 07:11


A BBA would force the federal government to balance the federal spending to incoming revenue each year and cap spending at 18% of the gross domestic product (GDP).  For the current Fiscal Year (FY 2011), the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that government spending will be $1.4 trillion more than revenue and account for almost 25% of the GDP.

by Emily Miller at Human Events


EXCERPTS:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R.-Ky.) is planning to roll out the details of the new version of the BBA in the next two weeks.  McConnell’s plan is to to build public support and pressure on the Democrats to vote for it before the debt ceiling is hit, which is estimated to happen between mid-April and the end of May.

So far, the Republicans have at least 33 members supporting the new BBA.  Cornyn said that he and others are making calls this week to line up the others to support it.  He expects to have all 47 Republicans in support by next week, and then will start outreach to the Senate Democrats.

According to Article V of the Constitution, an amendment must get a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate and be ratified by three-quarters of the states.  So in the Democrat-majority Senate, the amendment would need all 47 Republicans votes plus 20 Democrats for passage.

The pressure for a Balanced Budget Amendment this year is most pressing because of the escalating budget deficits of the past years during Democrat control of Washington and the record-breaking national debt.

FULL ARTICLE



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