Support shifts as Boehner adds balanced-budget amendment

The Hill ^ | July 29, 2011 | The Hill Staff

[Tulsa Ramjet]

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.

[ejdrapes]

I’ve heard 5pm or so.

[READINABLUESTATE]

“and the Kenyan said he’d veto it”

The president has no authority to veto a constitutional amendment ratified by the states. He has no say in the matter.

[ejdrapes]

BTW, the rules committee debate is on CSPAN right now. I just turned it on to hear David Drier say his goal is just to get something passed out of the house so people will get their social security checks on Tuesday. We’re DOOMED.

[glock rocks]

BTTT!

[listenhillary]

Good move. I think I remember you mentioning buying that place on a thread some time ago.

“So Long, and Thanks For The Fish” :)

[no-to-illegals]

am I the only one that thinks a balanced budget amendment would be used as an excuse to raise taxes at some point?

No, this point is being raised, and should be raised with those who will vote, later today.

[MEG33]

Woo Hoo!

[hoagy62]

Ace up our sleeve? What ‘ace’? I’m not seeing it here.

[no-to-illegals]

A question of: What is the language which eliminates tax increases as the method to balance the budget? Hearing no language exists for the proposed amendment.

[BlatherNaut]

“In the abstract at least, the idea of a Balanced Budget Amendment is appealing. Most of us are already familiar with them anyway since all fifty states are required to balance their budgets every year, or two years depending on what kind of budget cycle they operate under. Only spending what you take in also makes sense on a personal level, because that’s how all of us operate, or at least how we’re supposed to operate if we don’t want to end up in Bankruptcy Court some day. Before we go all-in on this idea, it makes sense to stop and look at what’s actually being proposed and ask ourselves if it would even work, and if we would want to have a government that operates under its provisions.”

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/the-balanced-budget-amendment-is-a-bad-idea/

[Tallguy]

Boehner can’t be too happy about the price of moving that bill. He probably won’t be speaker after 2012.

[MestaMachine]

One that even the lamestream will not be able to overcome. Watch.

[combat_boots]

@shearm

Michael D. Shear

Cloture vote in Senate planned for midnight! Then could be an all-nighter as Dems make GOP sens keep objecting thru the night. #sleepingbags

2 minutes ago via Twitterrific for Mac

[Jim Noble]

All of the various BBAs have the same critical flaw: They rely on some body of the government, or group of officials, to calculate an imaginary number (most commonly "GDP")and then to apply that number to what Congress calls a "budget", which is actually a guess about future events, and then to certify that the guess about future events meets the requirements of the BBA.

The real Constitution takes cognizance of human nature. A BBA pretends that there is no such thing as human nature, and gives enormous power to rulekeepers who have every incentive to cheat and no incentive to deal honestly.

All of the fiscal, budgetary problems result from a lack of real, constitutional money. Fiscal policy, and finance more broadly, is a tool to manage money, just like a hammer is a tool to drive nails.

If you supply rubber nails, the debates about the size, weight, shaft length, and qualifications to swing the hammer are meaningless.

The States need to amend the Constitution to restore real money. If Congress had to come and take the gold and silver from your hands to give away, the budget would balance (or they would hang) in short order.

The problem is not the budget, after all.

It's the money.

[Dave346]

David Dreier is trying to move the hearing as quickly as possible so they can get the bill to the House floor.

[ejdrapes]

David Drier just said it’s in the interest of every member of the rules committee to ensure the debt ceiling is increased. We’ve lost.

[Turtlepower]

My sentiments exactly.....why is he even bothering with this watered-down POS? All he’s done is irritate Tea partiers. He should have passed various versions of CC&B a million times and punted that instead of creating this garbage that will be rejected anyways.

[combat_boots]

@lbstewartLogan Stewart

(abc order) RT @DCnewskat: @BarackObama is tweeting names of GOP House members, asking users to contact them re: #debtceiling

29 seconds ago via TweetDeck

[ejdrapes]

David Drier just said it’s in the interest of every member of the rules committee to ensure the debt ceiling is increased. We’ve lost

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

There are ways to draft a BBA that prevent a government from systematically gaming it. That's why it has teeth in a lot of states.

Personally, I'd prefer a constitutional limit on the debt ceiling, with no loopholes, with that limit increasing no more than 1%/year.