Vote On Balanced-Budget Amendment Sees Some Democratic Support

The House will vote on a balanced-budget amendment Thursday afternoon in a move that has Democratic leadership conducting last-minute damage control stemmed from conservative Democrats’ vow to pass the measure. 

Following the endorsement by the 25-member Blue Dog Coalition, a group of conservative Democrats, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has begun rallying against the bill, despite having voted in favor of a similar amendment in 1995. Hoyer has argued that his new position against the balanced budget amendment stems from his lack of trust in the Republican Party as a fiscally responsible entity. 

House Republicans have been quick to reinforce the support from conservative Democrats, urging both chambers of Congress to pass the measure. Some members of the GOP’s freshman class banded together Thursday to criticize Pelosi and Democratic efforts to reject the measure. 

“[Democratic leaders] are actively, actively lobbying for a ‘no’ vote. Why? One word; politics,” Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Ark.) said. “Leader Pelosi told them to do it, that’s why they’re doing it.”

Democrats like Rep. Peter DeFazio have provided Republicans with ammunition in this debate. In a letter to rank-and-file Democrats, DeFazio bucked his party’s leadership and urged his colleagues to support the amendment. 

“I believe our leadership is making a strategic mistake asking Democrats who support a balanced-budget amendment to make a partisan stand against it,” DeFazio’s letter reads. “If Democrats walk away from this sincere bipartisan effort, we will have let the American electorate down.”

A majority of Republicans are expected to vote in favor of the measure despite growing concerns that the amendment excludes a two-thirds requirement to hike taxes. Earlier in the week, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told reporters that, if he had his way, he would rather the House consider a stronger amendment.

Even though a constitutional amendment does not require any presidential action, the White House has reinforced Democratic opposition to the measure with a statement of its own. 

If all House members vote, Republicans would have to rake in 290 votes - meaning 48 Democrats would have to break party ties - to pass the measure.

Hoyer: Balanced Budget Amendment Unnecessary

By Adrianna McGinley

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) today criticized Republican efforts to pass a Balanced Budget Amendment.

Although reporters noted that he supported a Balanced Budget Amendment in the 1990s, Hoyer said he no longer does because of fiscal “irresponsibility” on the part of Republican leadership over the last decade.

“What I said in 1995 I absolutely agree with today,” Hoyer said. “Unfortunately, I did not contemplate the irresponsibility that I have seen fiscally over the last 9 years or 8 years of the Bush administration and Republican leadership in the House and the Senate.”

Hoyer said Congress should be focused on finding ways to pay for the deficit, not passing constitutional amendments.

“The tough votes are paying for things, it’s not a tough vote to pretend you’re going to go for a balanced budget by having some amendment on the floor…if you want to cut revenues, make sure that you have the guts to cut spending…if you don’t have that kind of courage then don’t criticize others for saying we have to pay for things.”

Hoyer said, however, that he believes the so-called “super committee” tasked with creating a plan to reduce the nation’s deficit will meet its Thanksgiving deadline.

“Time is short but not so short that agreement can’t be reached,” he said. Failure, he added, is not an option because the billions in automatic cuts to domestic and defense spending that would result are “irrational and bad policy.”

Hoyer said that the U.S. has the resources to solve its problems but lacks “the courage and the will to do so.”