Senate Republicans, pummeled Wednesday by President Obama over the stalled debt ceiling talks, fought back by announcing plans to vote next month on a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., flanked by a dozen Republicans, said he wants a vote on a balanced-budget proposal the week of July 18, adding that House Republicans plan to vote on a similar measure the following week of July 25.
The vote will put pressure on Democrats to take steps to seriously rein in federal spending, an issue that has increasingly resonated with voters. A poll last month conducted by Sachs/Mason-Dixon found that 65 percent of those surveyed support a balanced-budget amendment, with just 27 percent in opposition to it.
The move to bring up the measure also signals that the two parties remain far apart on how to eliminate the deficit and debt, with Democrats firmly committed to raising some new revenue through taxes while Republicans are as determined as ever to stop what the party believes is excessive government spending.
Both sides have until Aug. 2 to strike an agreement that would allow them to raise the debt ceiling. If they don’t make the deadline, the government will begin defaulting on its loans.
McConnell announced his plans to take up a balanced-budget amendment just as Obama was holding a press conference in which he said any deal to rein in the nation’s massive deficit and debt should also include tax increases.
McConnell said a balanced-budget amendment would do just the opposite.
“We think it’s pretty clear regardless of what we are ultimately able to negotiate here in the short term that we put the federal government in this kind of fiscal straitjacket for the future so that we cannot get into this position again,” McConnell said.
A balanced-budget amendment would prohibit the federal government from spending more than it has in revenues and would end the practice of taking on massive amounts of debt.
Many economists have endorsed a balanced-budget amendment, but it has never been able to clear Congress. Both chambers require supermajorities to pass such measures and after that, 38 of the 50 states would have to ratify the initiative to amend the Constitution.
Democrats had little interest in a balanced-budget agreement on Wednesday and instead called on Republicans to agree to close “tax loopholes” for wealthy Americans that they said could funnel billions of tax dollars to the treasury.
They also called on McConnell to support a pending deal on cutting subsidies to ethanol producers, which Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said could save about $2 billion.
“We need revenues to contribute to deficit reduction,” Schumer said.
McConnell has supported eliminating ethanol subsidies, but said recently that such a move should not be part of the debt-limit talks. Instead, the subsidies should be included “in a broad tax reform bill.”
