Tea Party coalition forming to push for balanced budget amendment

He suggested the debate will be impacted by what President Obama’s deficit commission recommends in December: “If there is truly a bipartisan pathway to a balanced budget and substantial reduction of the national debt over the next decade, any new efforts to create a BBA will die on the vine or go nowhere.”

But even if the GOP wins control of Congress, he said, he doubts a two-thirds vote could pass both the House and Senate. “And I’m not sure there are 38 states willing to ratify a BBA either… It is easy to get to 30 states for something like a BBA. But 35, 36, 37 are tough. 38 is nigh impossible,” he said.

A number of candidates for the U.S. Senate this year support a balanced budget amendment, including Republicans Sharron Angle in Nevada, Rand Paul in Kentucky and Marco Rubio in Florida.