WASHINGTON (AP) - Parliament rejected a proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution to require a balanced budget, considered by many to be the only way to force legislators to keep the line of the budget and reverse the flow of federal red ink.
The vote was 23 261 to 165 short of the two-thirds majority in order to promote a constitutional amendment. Democrats, influenced by the arguments of their leaders that the budget balance requirements will force Congress to make devastating cuts to social programs, voted overwhelmingly against it.
Although she had passed the house, the proposal was unlikely to overcome the many political hurdles required for adoption. But the vote of each party will ammunition in elections next year. Republicans can say they have tried to put the public finances of America in order; Democrats can say they were defending social programs.
