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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 one way that Congress...

BILLINGS -- As bipartisan crowd-pleasers go, few get Montanans nodding more approvingly than calls for a balanced federal budget, which is why U.S. Sen. Steve Daines recently offered a bill forcing his peers to go unpaid unless they reign in spending. “As I travel around Montana, as I did in December wrapping up a 56-county tour, when I talk about this bill, it’s a bill that will literally bring applause from across the state,” Daines told The Gazette. The state of Montana balances its budget. The federal government should do the same, or so goes the narrative that literally every...

State Rep. Paulette Rakestraw Braddock announced that on Wednesday, March 19, the Georgia Senate passed by a vote of 30-25 the Compact for a Balanced Budget Amendment. "I am thrilled to see Georgia take the lead to restore fiscal responsibility in Washington," said Rep. Rakestraw Braddock, the lead sponsor of the legislation. Our Georgia lawmakers are saying, 'Enough is enough' to the burgeoning $18 trillion federal debt. We are the first in the nation to call for an Article V constitutional convention of states to rein in out-of-control Washington spending." The Amendment now awaits Georgia Governor Nathan Deal's signature. Read...

The Biggest Financial Scandal In History?Michael SnyderJuly 5, 2012 We always knew that the financial markets were rigged, but this is getting ridiculous. It is now being alleged that 20 major banks have been systematically fixing global interest rates for years. Barclays has already been fined hundreds of millions of dollars for manipulating Libor (the London Inter Bank Offered Rate). But Barclays says that a whole bunch of other banks were doing this too. This is shaping up to be the biggest financial scandal in history, and criminal investigations have been launched on both sides of the Atlantic. What those...

Candidate for Senate Dan Liljenquist (left) pledged to The New American that should he be elected to the U.S. Senate he will offer legislation explicitly repealing the indefinite detention provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). In a press conference held on April 24 at 2:00 p.m. (MDT), the former Utah State Senator and current GOP challenger to six-term Senator Orrin Hatch described the indefinite detention provisions of the NDAA as “an overreach and a violation of the Bill of Rights.” He said that had he been in office when Congress voted to pass the NDAA he would have...

SECTION 1. The outstanding debt of the United States shall not be increased above its level on the date of ratification of this amendment, unless three-fifths of the whole number of each House shall provide by law for such an increase by a rollcall vote. SECTION 2. Should the President determine that expenditures appropriated by law will necessitate borrowing in excess of the limit provided in Section 1 during any fiscal year, he or she shall impound any expenditures as necessary and expedient to remain within said limit. The compensation of members of Congress or of Judges of the supreme...

The House this afternoon voted down by 261-165 a balanced budget amendment that its  supporters hoped would impose sweeping and permanent austerity upon the United States with massive budget cuts. It needed a two-thirds majority to pass.  Click here for more from Think Progress and here our recent coverage.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have forced Congress to balance its budget every year as a way to reverse years of deficit spending. A majority of House members supported the balanced budget measure, but supporters fell short of achieving the two-thirds majority needed to amend the Constitution. Republicans who backed the amendment said it was the only way to get Congress to put its fiscal house in order. Democratic critics said a balanced budget requirement would result in drastic cuts in Medicare and other social programs when economic downturns put the budget...

John Rossomando Follow John on Twitter Next week could see Republicans adopting an indecent proposal as the House Republicans bring what some big-time conservative activists are calling the “naked balanced-budget amendment” the floor for a vote. Republicans have been grappling over which version to adopt since the summer. Moderates such as Rep. Bob Goodlatte have lined up behind pushing the “naked” or “clean” BBA that has conservative leaders worried it could cause the courts to raise taxes. Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey muses in a Friday blog posting that: “What makes Option B “clean”? No spending caps, no supermajority requirement, and...

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) indicated at a press briefing Thursday that the House Republican leadership is not ruling out the possibility that it will support a balanced budget amendment that does not cap federal spending as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product or require a supermajority in Congress to increase taxes. The legislation to increase the federal debt limit--that Boehner negotiated with President Barack Obama in August--requires both houses of Congress to vote on a balanced budget amendment before the end of the year. However, the legislation does not specify what type of balanced budget amendment must be considered...

If Republicans want to push even more Democrats out of Congress next year, one Democrat has suggested a strategy to succeed. The Hill reports that Blue Dog Democrats have begun to worry that Republicans will win the 2012 debate by backing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, especially with an electorate so skeptical of government spending. Rep. Henry Cuellar recommends that Democrats come up with their own BBA plan, and quickly: Democrats in Congress are urging their party leaders to get behind a balanced-budget amendment (BBA), fearing that Republicans will use the issue as a political weapon in 2012....

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...

Republicans made significant progress towards a balanced-budget amendment (BBA) vote in the debt-ceiling debate. While Democratic leadership initially mocked the idea, polls showed that voters broadly support a constitutional bar on deficit spending — including wide majorities of Democrats and liberals. Some Democrats in Congress later expressed support for the concept of a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution, and a vote on some form of BBA is expected later this year.But what form will get a vote? Brent Bozell worries that Republicans might give away the key to controlling tax rates: The version attached to the House Republicans’ Cut, Cap...

House and Senate Republicans have rallied around the notion of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution as a solution to the country’s dire fiscal straits. But over the weekend, the head of Standard & Poor’s sovereign ratings division dismissed the idea, arguing that it would be more harmful than helpful to the country’s creditworthiness. “In general, we think that fiscal rules like these just diminish the flexibility of the government to respond” to crises, S&P managing director John Chambers told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Saturday when asked whether it’s important that Congress send a balanced budget amendment to the...

“When I talk about enforcing the Tenth Amendment, it’s not just Tea Parties, but there’s a broad understanding that there’s too much power in Washington, too much bureaucracy and we need to take a different approach,” Gingrich said today on a conference call. The end product of Team 10 will be actual legislation, Gingrich said. But that a need even exists for additional legislation to enforce the Constitution says something about the state of the government and society today. (Incidentally, that’s an objection some folks make to the push for a Balanced Budget Amendment — if the president and Congress...

"Hello, I’m Congressman Michael Grimm from the great state of New York, proudly representing Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn. After serving my country in combat with the United States Marine Corps and deep undercover with the FBI, I decided to go out on my own and start a small business. I’ve seen firsthand how politicians and bureaucrats can make it harder to meet a payroll and create jobs. The latest jobs report shows that President Obama’s ‘stimulus’-driven policies are simply not working. The overspending, overtaxing, and over-regulating coming out of Washington is creating uncertainty and holding our job creators...

WASHINGTON — House Republicans, feeling they have scored significant fiscal victories, are moving on to an even bigger challenge: persuading voters, state legislatures and Democrats to alter the Constitution with a balanced budget amendment. In a meeting with his conference on Monday, Speaker John A. Boehner told members that the best thing they could do during the August recess was to sell their constituents on the idea that the amendment — which essentially stipulates that government cannot spend more than it takes in — is necessary and good. Republican leaders on the Hill have pivoted from railing against Democrats about...

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi confirmed that they would be moving toward a balance budget amendment on Friday, after rampant speculation that the European Central Bank would intervene bond markets and purchase Italian and Spanish debt in exchange for structural reforms.

Freshman Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Tuesday announced his support for strict spending caps, which put him at odds with his party's leadership and President Obama.  Manchin told an audience in South Charleston, W.Va., he would endorse the "CAP Act," which sets a tighter spending limit than what the president's budget calls for, as well as a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. The senator suggested the legislation could help Republicans and Democrats agree to a deal to raise the nation's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling.  "Today, I will be announcing my support for two proposals that I believe provide a good...

House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner told fellow Republicans on Sunday that he is considering a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution as part of a bill that would raise the debt ceiling, a source who heard his message said.