Free Republic

Some people have called for a balanced budget amendment to our Constitution as a means of reining in a big-spending Congress. That's a misguided vision, for the simple reason that in any real economic sense, as opposed to an accounting sense, the federal budget is always balanced. The value of what we produced in 2017 — our gross domestic product — totaled about $19 trillion. If the Congress spent $4 trillion of the $19 trillion that we produced, unless you believe in Santa Claus, you know that Congress must force us to spend $4 trillion less privately. Taxing us is...

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Sunday called for a more "balanced" American Middle East policy, deeming Israel's actions in the 2014 Gaza war "disproportionate." "The only way we succeed (in the Middle East) is that if the United States plays the role which is of course we are going to support Israel, but you cannot ignore the needs of the Palestinian people," Sanders told CNN in an interview. Dismissing the relevance of his Jewish background, Sanders replied, "I would hope that every person in this country wants to see the misery of never-ending war and conflict ended in the...

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Sunday called for a more "balanced" American Middle East policy, deeming Israel's actions in the 2014 Gaza war "disproportionate." "The only way we succeed (in the Middle East) is that if the United States plays the role which is of course we are going to support Israel, but you cannot ignore the needs of the Palestinian people," Sanders told CNN in an interview. Dismissing the relevance of his Jewish background, Sanders replied, "I would hope that every person in this country wants to see the misery of never-ending war and conflict ended in the...

With just six months before the next election, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s governing Conservatives have introduced a budget that offers attractive tax breaks for targeted voters and puts the country’s finances back into a precariously small surplus.

Normally quarrelsome House Republicans came together Wednesday night and passed a boldly conservative budget that relies on nearly $5 trillion in cuts to eliminate deficits over the next decade, calls for repealing the health care law and envisions transformations of the tax code and Medicare.

Gillespie campaign throws Warner’s views into the boxing ring together, NES style

n Washington, it is never too early to discuss who will next reside in the White House. But the real question is not who; it's what he will do there. Could even a President Paul, Lee, or Cruz accomplish the dramatic downsizing of government that we need? How would he push a Tea Party agenda, given what I call the Big Conundrum? The Big Conundrum is that those of us who believe in limited government abhor how much power has been appropriated to the executive branch. It would seem a type of hypocrisy to use those same powers to radically...

From the Goldwater Institute ...comes an innovative idea. It would use the Constitution's Article V to move the nation back toward the limited government the Constitution's framers thought their document guaranteed. The Compact for America is the innovation of the Goldwater Institute's Nick Dranias, who proposes a constitutional convention carefully called under Article V to enact a balanced-budget amendment written precisely enough to preclude evasion by the political class.Congress, which relishes deficit spending, would not, unilaterally and unpressured, send this amendment to the states for ratification. Hence the Goldwater Institute's recourse to Article V. It provides, in the same sentence,...

The Republican-led House passed legislation Wednesday that would force President Obama to estimate when the federal budget will balance again — and outline the steps he proposes to eliminate the budget deficit. The Require a PLAN Act is part of a new Republican attempt to force Obama and the Democratic Senate to engage in efforts to cut the deficit. Republicans have roundly criticized Obama for submitting late budgets that don´t balance, and the Senate for failing to produce any budget plan at all in nearly four years. As expected, the

The New Hampshire House of Representatives recently passed a resolution (HCR 40) that, if approved in the Senate, would make New Hampshire the 18th of 38 states needed to draft and ratify a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Representative Ulery (District 27), the House Sponsor, stated, “a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) will force Congress to do what they seem incapable of doing, that is reduce spending and tell the American people the truth about the cost of our nation’s unfunded entitlement promises.” Co-founder of the Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force and Economics Professor (Ret.), Dr. Barry Poulson noted,...

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said Tuesday that the Democratic Party would “effectively” be “put out of business,” if Congress were to pass a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. “They can’t work with us on balancing the budget,” DeMint said. “Their whole platform is based on more promises from government and more government spending.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House rejected on Friday the latest proposal from Republicans in Congress on a payroll tax cut, saying its costs needed to be offset in a balanced away and not with budget cuts exempting the rich. "We are open to looking at other ways to pay for this, but they have to be economically responsible and fair," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "It is important that the overall package meet the standards the president has set."

I was pleasantly surprised to hear Mark Levin, on his Friday show, express his rejection of the phony balanced budget amendment and giving his support to the four Republicans who voted against it. My only disappointment with Mark on this issue is his failure to associate our founder’s expressed intentions to have the rule of apportionment applied when dealing with deficits should they occur, and how the rule of apportionment would make each State’s Congressional Delegation immediately accountable if Congress spent more than is brought in from its normal means of raising a federal revenue, which would trigger the apportioned...

SEE: House GOP sets vote on balanced-budget amendment ``House GOP leaders have scheduled a vote next week on a constitutional amendment that would require a balanced federal budget.`` Now, let us take a look at what the GOP offers to restrain our Congress which has brought our nation to the brink of financial suicide and a national debt of over $15 TRILLION which represents our nation‘s entire gross domestic product for one year!. SEE H.J.RES.2, THE GOP BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT and particularly note alleged ``conservatives`` who have put their name to this fraud! `Section 1. Total outlays for any fiscal...

On Friday Former President Bill Clinton spoke at the dedication of a bridge at his Presidential library. During his address he complained that Republicans try to take too much credit for his welfare reform legislation and for balancing the budget. The two parties can argue about who was behind welfare reform, but no one deserves credit for balancing the budget. The truth is the United States federal budget was not balanced in any of Bill Clinton’s eight years as President. Not once! The federal government has two types of debt public debt and intra-governmental debt.

Republicans want President Barack Obama to demand a balanced budget amendment in his upcoming jobs speech to Congress. "This would ensure spending cuts made today don't easily disappear tomorrow," said Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte in the GOP weekly address Saturday. "That doesn't just mean a fiscal house in order; it also means more certainty for the private sector and a better environment for job creation." ... A balanced budget, he said, would ensure that Washington spends within its means, therefore providing a stronger environment for investment and job growth. When Congress passed the debt bill in the first week of...

Returning to 2005 Spending Levels Would Match Current Revenues of 2.5 Trillion dollars. Outlays in 2005 were 2,472.2 Trillion. This solution would result in no rise the debt limit and we would have a balanced budget. This would also secure our AAA credit rating. This idea probably has too much common sense for the "Inside the Beltway Crowd."

House Republicans will link passage of a balanced-budget amendment to Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) last-ditch debt-ceiling plan, which GOP lawmakers said would move the measure to passage in a high-stakes vote later on Friday. Republican lawmakers voiced confidence the enhanced bill would pass muster with conservatives, as Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) predicted the balanced-budget amendment change would bring 10 to 20 more GOP members on board.

20 Democrats have supported a Balanced Budget Amendment in the past...the support is there...let's pass one.