Ross update

U.S. Congressman Mike Ross of Prescott on Friday voted for a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, arguing the amendment is the only way to force Congress to do its job. H.J.Res. 2, the Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment, would require the President and Congress to balance the federal budget within five years of the amendment’s ratification and then pass a balanced budget every year after that. The amendment, which requires a two-thirds majority vote, failed in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“It’s become clear that a constitutional amendment is the only way to force Congress to balance the budget,” said Ross, who helped introduce the amendment. “I’m very disappointed the House failed to pass this amendment, because, as a fiscal conservative, I have helped introduce a balanced budget amendment in each and every session of Congress since I first arrived. Deficit spending is nothing new and both parties share the blame, but our deficits have become unsustainable and it’s past time to restore fiscal discipline and accountability to our government.”

H.J.Res.2 would require Congress to produce a balanced budget every fiscal year and would require the President to submit a balanced budget in his or her annual report to Congress. The amendment would also prohibit spending for a fiscal year to exceed revenues, unless, by a three-fifths roll call vote of the House and Senate, Congress authorizes a specific exemption. The amendment also provides an exception in times of war and during military conflicts that pose imminent and serious military threats to national security.

Ross used Arkansas as an example of how a practical and successful a constitutional amendment can be in balancing a budget.

“Our state has a balanced budget amendment that prohibits deficit spending,” said Ross. “The amendment has required our governor and state legislature to work together and, as a result, our state has consistently produced balanced budgets. I know it can be done because as a former state legislator, I made the tough decisions, took the tough votes and worked with members of both parties to reach a balanced budget for each of my ten years in the State Senate.”

The last time a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution was seriously considered was in 1995, when it passed the House but failed by a single vote in the Senate. An amendment to the U.S. Constitution proposed in Congress requires a two-thirds majority vote in both the House and Senate and must then be ratified by three-fourths of the states, currently 38 states, or by a ratifying convention.

“This constitutional amendment will require every president and every congress, regardless of party affiliation, to balance our federal budget each and every year,” said Ross. “President Clinton worked with a Republican Congress to not only balance the budget, but to give us a budget surplus. Though the budget surpluses didn’t last long after President Clinton left office, the experience taught us that by working together in a bipartisan manner, it is possible to balance the budget. It was done then and it can be done again. We must bring back some fiscal sanity back to our government so that we can focus on other challenges facing the American people, like finding a good job.”