House Prepares To Take Up Balanced Budget Amendment

By Mike Hothi

The House is set to vote on a balanced-budget amendment (BBA) by the end of the week.

Passing the amendment would require a two-thirds majority vote in the House, a number that is unattainable without Democratic support.

“[I] hope that this passes,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told reporters Tuesday. “I will be voting for it because I do think ultimately that the biggest check we can put on the government’s unbridled spending is a forced balanced budget amendment like most states have.”

Although in support, Cantor expressed a desire to see stronger version of the proposed amendment, noting that in its current form, the BBA does not include a spending cap or provide supermajority voting requirement to increase taxes like many Republicans had hoped for.

On the other side of the aisle, Democratic leaders are holding firm in their opposition to the amendment.

The bill would have to pass by a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate before being ratified by three-quarters of the states to take effect.

No Presidential signature is required for a Constitutional amendment but the Obama administration did release a statement Tuesday warning that it “would impose serious risks for our economy… by requiring the government to raise taxes and cut spending in the face of a contraction, which would accelerate job losses.”

The administration emphasized the importance of finding a bipartisan solution to the country’s economic woes instead.

Voters Divided On Compromise, Says Polling Expert

By Kyle LaFleur

With election results just two days old, legislative compromise and the message voters sent to Washington were the focus of a panel put together by CQ-Roll Call on Thursday.

According to panelist Carroll Doherty, who serves as the Associate Director of Editorial at the Pew Research Center, the main message sent by voters was their rejection to the expansion of government.  

Doherty said that exit polls revealed that 56% of voters believe government is leaning left in regard to policies affecting businesses and individuals, up from 43 percent in 2008. Additionally, figures show that two out of three voters said the Recovery Act (stimulus) had either a detrimental or non-existent effect on the economy.  

Voters were divided on the future of the nation, especially when the idea of bipartisanship was brought up.

“We tested the general proposition of compromise a couple months ago — this was well before the election and well before the Tea Party victories — and at that time 54 percent of Democrats were telling us they admired political leaders who compromised with people they disagree with,” said Doherty. “Republicans told us the opposite, 62 percent prefer political leaders who stick to their positions.”

With Republicans now in control of the House and Democrats holding on to a weakened majority in the Senate, compromise is needed moving forward to pass legislation. Without it, gridlock could be a recurring theme on Capitol Hill for the next two years.

Culture Warriors

“As Marines we must be able to navigate the human terrain as well as we navigate the physical terrain of the battlefield,” said Brigadier General Richard M. Lake, during a House Armed Services committee hearing on transforming the U.S. Military’s foreign language skills, cultural awareness, and regional expertise capabilities.
The military representatives described a series of new programs aimed towards making U.S. forces more effective in dealing with different cultures, including financial incentives for Reserve Officers Training Corps students willing to study new languages, actively recruiting those who already have skills in foreign languages, and the creation of a personnel database that includes active members, retirees and separatees.
The Department of Defense contends that these steps have been successful. In 2001 there were 1,400 students studying Arabic, Persian, and Chinese at the Defense Foreign Language Center. Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower and Personnel for the Air Force Joseph M. McDade, Jr. says that over the past seven years those numbers have doubled. There has been a similar increase in Foreign Area Officers (FAO).
“In 2001 there were 1000 army FAOs, and 149 Marine FAOs. In 2008 those numbers were 1,600 in the Army, Marines, and Air Force,’ said McDade”.