With a $1.65 Trillion Deficit?

Senator Orrin Hatch has unveiled, S.J. Res. 10, a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution. Hatch, among the most senior Senators, has proposed several balanced budget amendments over the years. This time may be different. This time Hatch’s Utah colleague, freshman Liberty List and  “Tea Party” Senator Mike Lee, had a balanced budget plan in the works earlier this year. The two Utah Senators, along with Texas Republican, John Cornyn and Arizona’s Jon Kyl, crafted the Amendment together.

Among the provisions of the amendment:

• Mandates that total budgetary outlays for any fiscal year not exceed total revenues.
• Caps federal spending at 18 percent of GDP.
• Requires the President to submit a balanced budget to Congress every fiscal year.
• Requires a two-thirds supermajority for any new tax, any increase in tax rates, or any bill that is a net revenue raiser. Requires a supermajority to raise the debt limit.
• Allows for waiver of limits if there is a formal declaration of war, if the U.S. is engaged in a military conflict constituting a threat to national security, or if two-thirds of both the House and Senate approve.

47 Republicans agree.

That is no misprint. Every single Republican Senator has cosponsored S.J. Resolution 10. All 47!

So, will the 2012 Budget be balanced? No. It will hardly resemble Chairman Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity.”

How about 2013? No. President Obama will not sign a balanced budget or a balanced budget amendment. Selling the glory of his health care proposal to the Congress, September 9, 2009, President Obama pledged, “I will not sign [a bill that] adds one dime to our deficit either now or in the future.” We all know how that worked out.

But now is different. Co-Chairman of the group, Pass the Balanced Budget Amendment, Ken Buck of Colorado, believes, “The BBA has the best chance of passing since America’s fiscal mismanagement began decades ago.” But this amendment certainlywill not pass the 112^th Congress with 67%. But Like Chairman Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity,” This balanced Budget Amendment changes this debate from grabbing for smoke floating over the table to feeling actual substance on the table. It is another clear indication “We the People” will prevail in 2012 and beyond.