Georgia Republicans Show United Front on Balanced Budget Amendment

Georgia’s Republican congressional delegation is holding a news event today (Tue) to show support  of passing a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  The event at Georgia Republican Party HQ in Buckhead comes in advance of a requirement that both the U.S. House and Senate vote on the amendment by the end of the year.

You might remember the balanced budget vote was a requirement of the recent debt ceiling deal.  You might also pay careful attention to the language, here:  it only promises a vote on the amendment that would require a two-thirds majority of both the House (290 votes) and the Senate (67 votes), then approval by two-thirds of the states to become law.  It’s a tough gauntlet, but the U.S. Constitution is not supposed to be easy to change.

Lawmakers have sporadically debated a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution since the 1930s. A proposal in 1995 failed by just one Senate vote.

You can argue it is certainly possible for the federal government to operate with a balanced budget like the vast majority of states are required to do.  While it’s a popular idea, would you tolerate the austerity it would take to insure the government spent no more than it took in? 

You hear lots of calls for balancing the budget but hear very little of the spending cuts and tax increases it would take to make it happen.  Sure, an ensuing robust economy, if it happened, would help.  But with a deficit of more than $14 trillion, who can say how long it would take the balance the books?  I will look forward to more real number projections that will put the politics into the realm of reality.