Senate Republicans Call For A Balanced Budget Amendment

Senate Republicans announced Wednesday that they will be pursuing a Constitutional amendment that would require the U.S. to operate under a balanced budget.

“We’ve had three straight years of trillion dollar deficits. We’re $62 trillion in debt,” Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) told reporters during a press conference. “I’m convinced we’ve got to have a straight jacket that will get Congress to do what it really should do.”

An amendment can only be added to the Constitution if it passes with a 2/3-majority vote in both chambers of Congress or via a Constitutional convention agreed to by two-thirds of the state legislatures. It must then be ratified by 38 states.

According to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), all 47 Senate Republicans are in favor of passing an amendment, meaning 20 Democrats will have to cross party lines in order for the amendment to move forward. The GOP controlled House will pursue the amendment by the end of the month.

Congress previously sought to pass a balanced budget amendment in 1997 but it failed by one vote in the Senate. In addition to requiring a balanced budget, the current amendment would also prohibit the government from spending more than 18 percent of GDP.