A Balanced Budget Amendment
Posted: Saturday, October 16, 2010
by Richard Vail
Chisel & Plane
Here's my take on a balanced budget amendment:
29th Amendment to the United States Constitution
- Section 1. Prior to each fiscal year, the Congress shall adopt a statement of receipts and outlays for that year in which total outlays are no greater than total receipts. The Congress may amend such statement provided revised outlays are not greater than revised receipts. Whenever three-fifths of the whole number of both Houses shall deem it necessary, Congress in such statement may provide for a specific excess of outlays over receipts by a vote directly to that subject. The Congress and the President shall ensure that actual outlays do not exceed the outlays set forth in such statement.
- Section 2. Total receipts for any fiscal year set forth in the statement adopted pursuant to this article shall not increase by a rate greater than the rate of increase in national income in the last calendar year ending before such fiscal year, unless a majority of the whole number of both Houses of Congress shall have passed a bill directed solely to approving specific additional receipts and such bill has become law.
- Section 3. The Congress may waive the provisions of this article for any fiscal year in which a declaration of war is in effect.
- Section 4. The Congress may not require that the states engage in additional activities without compensation equal to the additional costs.
- Section 5. Total receipts shall include all receipts of the United States except those derived from borrowing and total outlays shall include all outlays of the United States except those for repayment of debt principal.
- Section 6. This article shall take effect for the second fiscal year beginning after its ratification.
- Section 7. If Congress fails to pass a balanced budget, then both chambers will be disolved and a Special election will be held in 90 days following the recess without passage of a bill. This election will be fore the remainder of the current session of Congress.
Here is what makes Section 7 so important. The Democratically controlled Congress prior to recessing for the election season, under the direction of Nancy Pelosi, (D-CA) refused to pass a budget. Think about that, knowing that her members in this time of economic trevail, Mrs. Pelosi, refused to expose them to any more flak from their constituents...so she didn't permit a budget to be passed by her Congress. This is the first time in our history that a Congress hasn't passed a budget...and these people want to be re-elected to their jobs...but then, they refuse to do that job? What's wrong with this picture? It's time to clean house and have ALL incumbents, regardless of party "retired by the electorate (gotta love Jimmah Carter for coining that phrase), and start fresh.
On The Vail Spot (just google it or click on the tab below in my bio), my blog, I've begun to post each and every one of the Federalist Papers. Those are the essays written by the men who actually wrote the Constitution detailing what they intended the Constitution to mean. They don't teach much about the Constitution in public school any more, which is crime in my opinion. I think its because if you understood the intent of the founder's, you'd never vote either "socialist" or "progressive" ever again.
But then, I'm firmly opposed to the current leadership of the GOP as well...they have spent far too long "going along to get along" that they have become an obsticale and part of the problem, not part of the solution.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Good article Rich. I can't imagine a balanced budget and Congress spending within their means but if the people keep hammering anything is possible.No, neither can I, but hope springs eternal.
Rich
Your ideas are interesting. Re section 3, imagine if there was no budget for war ever. That's an idea I can embrace!Except For Ending Slavery, Fascism, Nazism and Communism, WAR has Never Solved Anything" Bumper-Sticker Seen On Military Base
Then you'd be a slave...because freedom isn't free, sometime, in every generation someone has to pay the utlimate price for freedom. Often, of late, that price hasn't been very high, but a price must be paid. Go to the worker's paradise of Cuba and ask how they like their freedom. Better yet, go to China and ask the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize how he likes his freedom...if you can get into the prison he's being held in.
War isn't always the answer, but as Teddy Roosevelt once said, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." You can't be afraid of using that stick, else no one will listen (for example Iran). But going to war for theh sake of going to war isn't a viable answer either.
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