Office of the Majority Whip | Balanced Budget Amendment Video

[normanoetker]

The United States will not regain it's former status as #1 in manners of the world. Likewise, the US. outlook should now focus on acceptance and plan for the #2 world position. As other nations have played positional roles, now is the adjustment time, for the American public to adjust to this very powerful position of #2. Norman Oetker Protestant Christian Missionary serving now in Reynosa Mexico.

[m530bc]

A Balanced Budget Amed = U.S. will NEVER be able to wage war again. So thats why RepBullKrapiCon$ moved their businesses to China.

Revolutionary War DEFECIT & $1.5M from France, War of 1812 DEFECIT, Civil War DEFECIT, WWI DEFECIT WWII DEFECIT Korea DEFECIT Vietnam DEFECIT Gulf 1 DEFECIT Iraq DEFECIT Afghanistan DEFECIT Dont Pea Party on my Leg and tell me its raining!! Crack open a book, yes yes RepBullKrapiCons are Anti-Education so you'll just smoke FOX's crack

[m530bc]

A Balanced Budget Amed = U.S. will NEVER be able to wage war again. So thats why RepBullKrapiCon$ moved their businesses to China.

Revolutionary War DEFECIT & $1.5M from France, War of 1812 DEFECIT, Civil War DEFECIT, WWI DEFECIT WWII DEFECIT Korea DEFECIT Vietnam DEFECIT Gulf 1 DEFECIT Iraq DEFECIT Afghanistan DEFECIT Dont Pea Party on my Leg and tell me its raining!! Crack open a book, yes yes RepBullKrapiCons are Anti-Education so you'll just smoke FOX's crack

[angryman1007]

how exactly can a government exercise a substantial fiscal policy with a balanced budget.. shows that none of these politicians have any economic intelligence whatsoever. a balanced budget amendment is a great idea if your trying to neutralize the fed's ability to stimulate the economy in case of recession and place unnecessary shackles on the whole economy... what DID make sense was the pay as you go statute under clinton... of course fuck nut whorish right wingers fucked that up

[aggiepetvideo]

The original constitution REQUIRES a balanced budget!!! It mandates that government function on the tariffs and excise taxes it collects, if more is needed congress must come to the people for permission. This was subverted with the FED (not federal, no reserve). If congress were COINING money – their job – we would have no debt!!!

[sgone0]

Are you kidding? The only thing left is a balanced budget amendment! W/o which we will only go down the proverbial tubes in a few short years. Smaller government and no dollar spent w/o $3.30 left for debt management and reserve accounting...

[megamaniac76]

I liked your chart. It sure looked like the deficit spending was trending downward until the Nancy Pelosi congress took over. Why haven't I ever seen or heard about that in the media? I don't mean the liberal mainstream media. I mean the conservative media.

[GerrybombS]

it's simple-we all have to work together-all sides-major work needs to be done in the next budget meeting. If it is not done, other countries' stocks will plummet and in turn, so will America's. We look bad in the eyes of the rest of the world. We need to do something about it.

[oneerth]

Of course we had to put up a big stimulus package. Personally, I believe it wasn't big enough. Now is NOT the time to not spend money...it is the right time to do this. Yes, do we need spending cuts? Yes, but we need more revenue. It isn't going to make us more competitive with other countries if we try to protect ourselves...it is too late to fix that.

[sjhtrueblue]

What did Americans expect when they put a community organizer in charge of America. The White House wasn't a place to put someone so not qualified...now we all suffer. He needs impeached for not upholding our constitution as he pledged. He has trampled it, made a mockery of our country by his actions with Queen of England and bowing to Arabs etc. Impeach the jerk and nullify all of his crap he shoved down Americans throats. He does not care about us, he does not care about America that's obvious

[Shadeofgrey1]

You don't get into trouble when you spend the money in your checking account. You get in trouble when you spend the money in the checking accoung and then use the Visa, Mastercard, and Discover. Cut spending across the board first and then see if more money needs to be raised. That means spending cuts today, not 4 years down the road. Also Tax Cuts did not cause this mess, because Tax Cuts don't cost anything.

[MishuTaste]

We can balance the budget if we let the Iraqis and Afghans rule themselves.

[3martijns]

So predictable to see blogger comment from an Indoctrinated Puppet spewing their talking points, but doing Nothing to Push Congress to do what is Right.

The 'Laffer Curve' works, but Most liberals are Clueless re Facts!

[lmjenki]

It is simplistic to assume that the minute Obama took office the deficit ballooned. What we saw was the result of years of tax giveaways by Bush, Greenspan and Paulson. Sure, Dodd and Frank were players too, but it was the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the derivatives fueled recession that killed us financially.

[Kingair315]

@lmjenki The Debt is not A Presidents. CONGRESS controls the budget... The President has little more to do with it than requesting Congress approve things, they do not have to approve.

[blindref757]

I'm afraid it's too late...we cannot recover from this. Anarchy is about to ensue.

[3martijns]

I knew about the debt graph, but it still shocks me.

Dems and RINOs have put the USA on the Critically Injured List!

Do Not Allow the Country to Die!!

[lmjenki]

@3martijns: So I guess you never heard about Henry Paulson, Bush's Treasury secretary spending hundreds of billions to bail out big business just before Obama took office? Or that the war in Afghanistan was the first that the United states had fought with borrowed money? (from the Chinese) Maybe we should give more tax breaks to the 20% of the population who own 95% of the wealth in this great country of ours?

[georgiacindi]

It amazes me that some people think only war was started during Bush's presidency, Clinton had his war and Obama is having his, though it's not "technically" a so called war. Take a look at what Obama has done since he took office. 1.4 Trillion, does that not even phase you Bush haters.

[daveinli]

Amazing after 2 1/2 years B Hussein Obama, all liberals can offer as a rebuttal is "It is Bush's Fault" sigh. Kind of like arguing with a wall, and it only proves you are loosing your marbles and in need of Thorazine treatment.

A constitutional amendment as a lot more staying power, than a balanced budget act.

Still the problem rests with both parties, neither are earning their salaries, cutting social security while giving themselves pay raises each year.

[Kingair315]

@daveinli When they blame Bush, they are ignorant. The Debt is not A Presidents "fault", the fault is CONGRESS' they create the budget, spend the money, approve of bills which cost money

[Fritz256]

Much of the debt piled on after the Bush tax holiday for the wealthy was passed. It is not just that too much is spent (yup, financing a falsified war in Iraq and mishandling the one in Afghanistan are the major causes here), but not enough is taken in! BOTH arenas must be corrected. And fast.

[jrtoliver]

The 105th Congress approved a "Balanced Budget Act of 1997," signed into law by President William J. Clinton on 5 August 1997. It included a host of spending initiatives and tax credits. Sub-sequent to the act's passage, the federal government ran budget surpluses through the rest of the 1990s. Then President Bush (R) took office and you can see what happened (war). Congress has the mandate to balance the budget and the moral obligation to do so. A Constitutional amendment is not needed.

[Kingair315]

@jrtoliver As we have seen since President Obama took office a "MORAL OBLIGATION" to balance the budget is NOT enough. Politicians will all spend money, it is not all Pres Obamas fault. IT IS THE FAULT OF CONGRESS, the Democratic Congress spent or increased obligations for all that money. Democrats have NEVER believed in sticking to a balanced budget. When in control of congress, they have always spent more. CONGRESS needs control, and that can only be done with an amendment.

[djquazzy09]

@Kingair315 Look at the debt graph befor BUSH Jr. Clinton(Dem) had no debt, because he followed the 'pay as you go' program estabished by Bush Sr. Its not only about the President, or the Party in controll, look at all the facts before you say who's falt it is.

[dzimmerm1956]

I would hope the states would agree, but states are notorious for not agreeing. The states would be losing federal funding as a result of a federal balanced budget amendment. They would have to raise state taxes to make up the difference and states and local communities would need to take up the burden that is now supported by the feds. Don't get me wrong, I think that is how it should be, but will the states have the guts to implement it? Who knows?

[dzimmerm1956]

Three quarters of the states have to ratify any amendment to the constitution. The States can bypass congress entirely and call a constitutional convention. Please read Article 5 of the constitution. This is all hot air if the states do not agree with it.

[guyfroml]

@dzimmerm1956 But the states WILL agree to it...that's because 36 states have existing "absolute" balanced budget requirements under their respective state constitutiions and 13 others have "in effect" balanced budget statutes that basically amount to the same thing. So, what makes you think that these 49 states will think "it's okay for us to have mandated balanced budget requirements but not the federal government. Trust me, that will be the overly repeated statement heard when debating it.

[guyfroml]

@dzimmerm1956 Getting 39 states to go along with this will be a piece of cake. The voice of anger and frustration is always the loudest heard and easily rises above dissent to drown it out. The conservatives in each state will not allow their state legislators to be hyprocrites. All it takes is a simple majority in each legislature - many states only require their House (not Senate) to pass it. If this gets out of Congress, the states will ratify in less than 12 months - and the Dems know it.

[modernroyals]

Nice idea, but I've been in government my entire career and seen things like this put in place. Unfortunately, the pols always find creative ways around these barriers....and the media is complicit, as such creativity never gets exposed even though it's never a very well kept secret around capitol hill. Still, forcing the pols to be creative is probably not a bad thing, and it might slow them down a bit.

[b63katie]

The White House and Congress talk about reducing or limiting the amount that people on Social Security draw and the Medicare they use. Wonder if some of the ultra rich people in Congress could live on $683.00 a month? Why don't they ever mention reducing their pay or perks?

[sandraholzbach]

Our government must past a balanced budget admindment. The country will go bankrupt if this admendment is not past soon. It can be done without cuts in social security, medicare, or medicaid. Cuts can be made to programs that increase legislators payroll. An admendment can be passed without the American People having to deal with tax increases and sucessful business owners having to pay higher taxes due to the actions of our legislators and our President. Live within your means.

[Uffdaa12]

Let the Republicans blame everything on the Democrats as usual. It takes 2 parties to make things happen in this country and they have FAILED in all areas. Here are the facts. "In 1995, Mark Hatfield, a Republican senator from Oregon, cast the deciding vote against the Balanced Budget Amendment to the United States Constitution. Had the amendment passed, the federal government’s power to use deficit spending would have ended." NOW cooperate and get it done, it's 2011 !!!!!

[galeleach]

Senator Mark Hatfield was the one vote. You can read more by searching on Google for: gregory hilton one vote failure read his blog post.

[mspoliticalgirl]

Who was the one vote?