We need a constitutional amendment to cut federal spending — but it doesn't have to be a balanced budget amendment

Congress has wrecked the federal budget so badly that only a constitutional amendment, if even that, can ward off economic catastrophe.

As described in previous columns, last month’s discretionary spending agreement was so indefensibly exorbitant that it could portend a federal debt crisis of immense proportions. (The likelihood of an economic crash was significantly increased by President Trump’s dangerously foolish March 1 decision to impose large tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.) Perhaps the only thing that could convince debt issuers not to panic would be signs of serious movement towards fiscal rectitude.