House Rejects Amendment To The Balanced Budget

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.




Four Democrats joined Republicans to oppose the measure.

The first house to vote on an amendment to a balanced budget in 16 years comes as a separate non-partisan supercommittee seems to be spraying in his attempt to find at least 1.2 trillion dollars in deficit reduction over the next decade.

With the national debt now exceeds $ 15 trillion and the deficit for the fiscal year just ended of $ 1 trillion, supporters of the amendment, said it was the only way to stop spending control. The government now needs to borrow 36 cents for every dollar you spend.

"This is our last line of defense against the infinite desire of Congress to spend and overloading," Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, a Republican, said the House debated the measure.

But Democratic leaders worked hard to defeat, saying it could force Congress to cut billions in social programs in times of economic crisis and disputes in this cut could cause gives Congress the power of courts to grant .

Even if it had passed, the measure would have a tough battle in the Senate controlled by Democrats.

The Democratic argument was joined by veteran Congress David Dreier of California, who broke with his Republican friends to speak against that. Rules Committee says lawmakers should be able to find common ground on reducing the deficit without changing the Constitution, and he fears that the trial when Congress fails to balance the budget could lead to the decision-making courts on savings or raise taxes.

House approved a similar measure in 1995, to 72 Democrats. This year, the measure is a vote away from passing the Senate. This year, only 25 Democrats supported the proposal.

Constitutional amendments must receive two-thirds majority in both houses and ratification by three-fourths of the states. The last constitutional amendment ratified in 1992, salary increases for legislators.

The change would not come into force until 2017, or two years after it was ratified, and supporters said it will provide time for Congress to avoid drastic spending cuts.

Forty-nine states have some form of balanced budget requirements, although opponents point out that states do not have national security and defense costs. States also can still borrow for capital consumption budgets for infrastructure projects over time.

The federal government balanced its budget six times in the last fifty years, four times during the presidency of Bill Clinton.