Balanced budget amendment will do just that
As we begin a new year and Congress reconvenes, an unpleasant reality is increasingly hitting home with ordinary Americans: Leaders in both parties have irresponsibly run up debt. And, since President Obama took office, the debt crisis has grown exponentially worse. The only way to solve the problem in the long run is with a Constitutional amendment.
The facts tell the story. The average American household now carries over half-a-million dollars in Federal debt. And it’s growing quickly: The Obama administration is now predicting that the federal budget deficit will exceed $10 trillion through 2019. Meanwhile, some economists are predicting that in about 15 years, our public debt will be more than 100 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). And that figure is just the tip of the iceberg: If you look at all of the unfunded liabilities of the Federal government, the national debt right now is already at least $65 trillion.
With the Federal government taking in about $2 trillion a year, this runaway spending is not sustainable. If we continue down the current path of runaway deficits, we’re going to have the Federal government creating a public-finances-equivalent to the subprime mortgage meltdown in the not too distant future.
When a family or business faces the sort of revenue gap we are facing as a nation, they have to drastically tighten their belts. Government must do the same.
States across the country are making difficult choices to balance their books. In Minnesota, we’ve prioritized veterans, public safety and schools, while making difficult cuts to almost everything else in order to avoid even higher taxes. Most other states are making similar tough choices – choices that could grow even harder depending on the changes to Medicaid being proposed by Congressional Democrats.
Cutting spending is necessary because our nation’s fiscal imbalance threatens our future prosperity, our national security, and the heart of the American dream. Without change, sooner or later massive Federal debt will force painful spending cuts, higher taxes, a weaker dollar and runaway inflation.
Fortunately, it’s not too late to turn things around. By reining in our spending now, we can right our fiscal ship. We can extend freedom and opportunity by making government live within its means. We can safeguard our prospects for long-term, future prosperity that will make this country an even greater place for future generations to grow up, live, work and raise a family than it already is—but we must act.
Balancing the budget will require some tough decisions. Congress must reduce discretionary spending in real terms, with exceptions for key programs such as military, veterans, and public safety. The Congress must also reject costly new spending initiatives, like new health care entitlements.
In the long run, sending different politicians to Washington will not be enough. We need a mechanism in place to enforce balanced budgets, because regardless of which party is in power, they have not done a good job of getting budgets to balance over time. That’s why I’m calling for a Constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget, with exceptions for war, natural disasters, and other emergencies.
That won’t be easy; it will require a lot of hard work; and it will be a hard agenda to sell. That’s what leadership is about, though. My wish, as we begin this year, is for us to see much more of that from this administration and Congress.
Tim Pawlenty is the Governor of Minnesota. You can sign his petition in support of a balanced budget amendment at http://TimPawlenty.com. He is also on Twitter and Facebook.
(9 votes, average: 3.56 out of 5)
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Where were you hiding Pawlenty when there was republican. Why did you not speak out then.
Republicans have no right to complain they had 5 years of supermajority, the house the senate and the presidency and they did nothing.
Zero!
No healthcare reform, no investigation of federal reserve, no balanced budget amendment.
And look at the mess they left.
Republicans had their chance, its a failed party. We need real conservatives.
I see this site has quickly turned into a Huffington Post bash salted with Joe Klein meanderings.
Interesting how the left is so furious they have to come on this site when Mr. Obama said he won, and has been changing America to leftist bowing apologetic glory ever since.
For the reality, if Mr. Pawlenty balances his budget without raising taxes, I am all for it, because otherwise America will face what Mr. Obama is going to install in balancing his rapine of the US Treasury by taking every cent from every American in taxes.
How does asking Republicans questions about how they led us into such a financial mess make somebody from the left? The GOP promised us they were fiscal conservatives, many of us voted for them because of those promises, and yet their actions did not match their promises. How does that make us from the left?
He’d be a sensible choice for the Republicans in 2012,
he’s a sensible choice for anybody who does not care if a highway bridge collapses while that person is driving on it
his perfect running mate is booby jindal.the guy who thinks volcano monitoring is a waste of time (wonder how he feels about monitoring hurricanes, bet he supports that)
pawlenty will balance the budgetr
and the bridges will collapse, the schools will go broke, children will die, society will atrophy, the fire department and police will no longer function
but you’ll have a damn low tax rate
just enough to pay pawlenty’s salary
vote repuglitarded
help destroy America NOW
pawlenty in 2012
With a real balanced budget amendment, you have to be willing to make some serious cuts during downturns… certain things like social security and medicare are off the plate, because of past legislative actions. Our assorted military adventures overseas may be forced to curtail dramatically so as not to offend actual voters that provide us majorities in congress.
Under George H.W. Bush and the Republican controlled Congress, the national debt increased by $4.97 trillion. The national debt was $5.7 trillion when Bush took office and was $10.7 trillion when he left. WOW!! Thanks goodness the Republican Party keep telling us that they are fiscal conservatives.
“We can extend freedom and opportunity by making government live within its means” What does this mean exactly? To me it sounds like electioneering buzzwords designed to elicit positive emotions…
Oh yeah, I remember, Timmy is running for president. Maybe he can do for the USA what he did for Minnesota: Drive it into the ditch.
While I like the principle behind a “Balanced Budget Amendment”, as a practical matter, it would be a mess. It would relieve Congress of the tough legislative decisions to make – what taxes to raise and what programs to cut – and place them firmly in the hands of the judiciary. This is precisely NOT what the Framers had envisioned when they authored the Constitution. It would be a Judicial mess, and another “lawyer full-employment act”, which is not what the country needs.