Chaffetz’s Priority is Balanced U.S. budgetDecember 31st, 2008 | 9 Comments | Posted in Congress, Conservatism, Economics, Fiscal Conservatives, Fiscal Discipline, Jason Chaffetz
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When a newly elected politician prepares to head to Washington, that free spending den of iniquity, I always hold my breath, half way waiting to get sold out, but still hoping against hope that THIS TIME IT MIGHT BE DIFFERENT. In the case of Jason Chaffetz, so far so good.
Rep. elect Chaffetz’ first co-sponsored bill will require a balanced federal budget. The cynical among us might say that this is just window dressing and has no chance of passing. Probably it won’t pass. It will get some of us thinking that maybe the problem with the enormous deficits we have been running is that Congress is genetically incapable of disciplining itself and unless we come up with a way of handcuffing these people to some form of frugality, we will continue to bleed red ink at a time we can ill afford it.
Kudos to Rep. Chaffetz, keep up the good work!
~~John Cronin~~
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705273910,00.html
Tags: Balance Budget AmendmentAfter he is sworn into office next week, Rep.-elect Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said among the first things he will do is co-sponsor a constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget.
“Fiscal discipline is my No. 1 priority. Without it, we are not able to do anything else,” Chaffetz said Monday.
He added, “The state constitution in Utah requires a balanced budget. This works well for Utah and will work well for our country.”
Conservatives for years have pushed such a constitutional amendment — and often introduce it on the first day that Congress convenes. But they have been unable to get it through Congress. Such amendments must be passed by two-thirds of both the House and Senate and then be ratified by legislatures in three-fourths of the states.
“Federal government spending is out of control. Washington obviously lacks the discipline to live within its means. We cannot be all things to all people. We are $10 trillion-plus in debt, and the number is growing every day,” Chaffetz said.
“This is unacceptable and unsustainable. I am committed to dramatically reduce the size and scope of the federal budget. We cannot continue to run this country by putting more debt on a credit card,” Chaffetz said.