Category Archives: Balanced Budget amendment

WHAT A REAL SWORD OF DAMOCLES WOULD LOOK LIKE

Posted on November 25, 2011 by

By Anthony W. Hawks Why did the deficit reduction super-committee fail? For the same reason that the “Byrd Amendments” mandating a balanced budget failed in 1978, 1980, and 1982. For the same reason that the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings law and its sequestration … Continue reading →

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The Balanced Budget Blues Continue

Posted on November 19, 2011 by

By Anthony W. Hawks The House of Representatives began floor debate yesterday on the Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA), which ended in an unsurprising 261-165 defeat this afternoon. (290 votes were needed for the two-thirds vote required by Article V.) As … Continue reading →

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The Amash Alternative: Balanced Budget Amendment Blues

Posted on November 11, 2011 by

By Anthony W. Hawks Among the 18-plus competing balanced budget amendments (BBA) now vying for the House Republican leadership’s endorsement is H.J. Res. 81, sponsored by first-term congressman and Tea Party favorite, Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI). What makes this proposal unusual … Continue reading →

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DOG CHASES CAR. DOG CATCHES CAR. WHAT NEXT?

Posted on November 6, 2011 by

By Anthony W. Hawks One of the bones thrown to Republicans in the recent debt ceiling deal was the promise of a floor vote on some type of balanced budget amendment (BBA) prior to December 31, 2011. The first such … Continue reading →

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CONCONCON 2011, RENT-SEEKING, AND RENT-TRAWLING

Posted on October 14, 2011 by

By Anthony W. Hawks The recent “Conference on the Constitutional Convention” (www.conconcon.org) at Harvard Law School began a civil and, I hope, fruitful dialogue among liberals, conservatives, and libertarians on the need and potential for an Article V convention to … Continue reading →

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