Washington: The U.S. House of Representatives failed on April 12, 2018, to allow a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Following a controversial debate, the vote ended 233-184, so the result is less than two-thirds required to make a Constitutional modification.
In the first session of the 115th Congress, Rep. Goodlatte Bob, R-VA., submitted on Jan. 3, 2017, a joint resolution to propose a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution of the United States. This bill aimed to establish a “constitutional restraint on federal fiscal mismanagement,” said Goodlatte.
While the Republicans claim that “all the federal increase in spending are relative to the gross domestic product,” which measures the cost of the final goods and services produced, on the other side, the Democrats state the U.S. deficit is related to the tax cut.
Rep. Goodlatte says, “It’s time for U.S. Congress to stop satelliting future generations with a burden of crunching debts of our current spending,” Sponsored by 64 House members, including one Democrat, this bill is the only way to guarantee fiscal restraints over the long term according to Goodlatte.
During this debate, many Democrats and Republicans agreed that Congress must limit federal spending.
Among them, Rep. Norma Torres, a Democrat from the State of California, says, “The budget is the value statement by which we govern America,” so “we all want a balanced budget.”
However, she sees the joint resolution to amend the U.S. Constitution to lower the national debt by removing the spending items related to social security as harmful.
“This is an attack against the middle class and the families we represent,” claimed Torres, who additionally outlines that more than 15 million Americans depend on Medicare.
Regarding the national debt, Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas., says, “If the U.S. accumulated debts are around 23 trillion dollars is because Washington has an addiction to spending money that he doesn’t have.”
Despite a moral obligation to balance his budget, “that financial discipline was not pursued as it results in our national debts and it undermined our economy and security,” Babin said.
According to Rep. Danny K. Days, a Democrat from Illinois, “A balanced budget amendment will wipe out trillions of dollars from social security, Medicaid, military budget.” For Danny, “a balanced budget amendment will create an ongoing scenario of a list of potential crises; additionally, it is a straight outbreak on our citizens and our democracy.”
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, admits that the constitutional amendment they are looking for is not perfect, but it’s a good step in the right direction.”
Among the 27 U.S Representatives for the State of Florida, 15 voted pros, 11 cons and one didn’t vote.
DC of Tampa 