- 07/13/11 06:56 PM ET
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the House minority whip, announced Wednesday that he’d marshal Democratic votes against the Republicans’ balanced-budget amendment when GOP leaders bring it to the floor next week. BECAUSE HOYER KNOWS THAT THE BALANCED-BUDGET AND DEBT CEILING BOTH A SYMPTOMS OF A LARGER SELF-INFLICTED PROBLEM. THE RESOLUTION IS MORE THAN A $1 OUT OF EVERY $3 CUT RATHER ITS A SYSTEMIC OVERALL OF THE GOVERNMENT WHICH HAS FAR GREATER IMPLICATIONS.
Here's my question, "Why would an elected official take such a position knowing from various opinion polls that a majority of American are for a balanced budget?
Of course a direct answer is impossible with a debt ceiling debate raging. Mitch McConnell (R - KY.) is also on the record against a balanced-budget amendment, why? BECAUSE, what politicians fear the most is that, in the event of a shutdown, Americans will learn exactly how many government services and agencies are not so “essential”. In other words, the vastness and multiplicity of the bureaus and agencies within our federal government is something that everyone acknowledges; but something of which no one quite understands the magnitude. Once Americans see that a shutdown of the “Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Grants Program” of the Environmental Protection Agency will NOT cause the nation’s economy to grind to a halt, they will then start taking a much closer look at inane and wasteful government programs, agencies, and bureaus. They will then begin to tell their elected officials, “Gee, Mr. Congressman, I think that we should shut this agency down and save a few million (or billion) dollars.”In order for a balanced-budget amendment to pass it will need 48 Democrats to support the bill to achieve the needed 2/3 majority in the House to pass.
GOP Reps. Bob Goodlatte (Va.) and Joe Walsh (Ill.) are sponsoring the balanced-budget proposal that would require Congress to pass a balanced budget each fiscal year while capping federal spending at 18 percent of the GDP. Additionally, the bill would require two-thirds of Congress to hike taxes, and a three-fifths majority to increase the debt limit.
Supporters say it’s necessary to control annual deficit spending and reduce the national debt, which is fast approaching $14.3 trillion.
”Adoption of the balanced-budget amendment would help ensure such spending restraints are set in stone, and the certainty it provides will help create a better environment for job creation across the country,“ House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Wednesday.
Hoyer, however, warned that the new requirements would hobble popular entitlement programs, leaving beneficiaries high and dry. NOTE: BENEFICIARIES ARE ALSO VOTERS!
”It would require drastic and harmful cuts to programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, programs that form the heart of America’s social compact,“ Hoyer said. IN PARTICULAR THE SSI PROGRAM WAS DESIGNED TO BE SELF FUNDING BY BENEFICIARIES THEMSELVES ... AND THE FUNDS ARE 'SUPPOSE' TO BE IN A 'LOCKED BOX' ... THE GOVERNMENT WOULD HAVE TO RESTRUCTURE THE PROGRAM AND THE SOCIAL COMPACT WITH AMERICA!
Unlike previous balanced-budget amendments, this amendment would mean great pain for ordinary Americans, even as it shielded the most privileged from any comparable sacrifice. It is not a solution to our nation’s pressing fiscal challenges.
The Senate also is expected to vote on a balanced-budget amendment next week.
Hundreds of labor organizations, human rights promoters and other advocacy groups said earlier Wednesday they were uniting to try to kill both balanced-budget amendments. IT TRULY IS A GOOD THING THAT THE GORILLA IN THE ROOM (THE AMERICA PUBLIC) IS SEDATED ...
