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发帖数: 29846 | 1 White House opposes GOP-led balanced budget amendment
By Erik Wasson - 11/15/11 03:57 PM ET
The White House on Tuesday announced it opposes a balanced budget amendment
to the Constitution that is coming to a vote in the House later this week.
President Obama does not need to sign a proposed Constitutional amendment,
which is sent directly to the states for ratification if two-thirds of the
House and Senate approve of it. Because of this, the statement of
administration policy does not include a veto threat.
In making the announcement the White House is seeking to rally House
Democrats against the proposal.
The office of Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), sponsor of the amendment, said
that dozens of Democrats are prepared to vote in favor of the BBA. The
version being voted on has been designed to appeal to Democrats and it is
identical to a BBA that almost passed the Congress in the 1990s.
The House GOP needs at least 48 Democrats to vote for the BBA in order to
meet the two-thirds threshold.
The White House argues that “H. J. Res. 2 would impose serious risks for
our economy” and that if it had been in place during the recent recession
it could have blocked the Obama stimulus package and the U.S. could be in a
second Great Depression
It says that the amendment, by forbidding deficit spending, would “
accelerate economic downturns by requiring the government to raise taxes and
cut spending in the face of a contraction, which would accelerate job
losses.”
The White House also argues that the BBA would turn fiscal policy over to
the courts, which would be brought in to decide if balanced budgets were in
place.
It argues that requiring a balanced budget could result in draconian cuts to
Social Security and Medicare.
“H. J. Res. 2 is not a solution to the Nation's deficits. The
Administration is committed to working with the Congress on a bipartisan
basis to achieve real deficit reduction,” the White House says. |
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