Balanced Budget Amendment Fails - Four Republicans Join Dems on Vote

Posted by Brian

Even as it was announced this week that the nation's debt has reached $15 Trillion, Congress still cannot find it within themselves to pass a Balanced Budget Amendment. The addition of 4 Republicans who voted with the Democrats against the amendment show that we still have a ways to go to get a Congress which represents "We The People".  Nearly three-in-four Americans support a Balanced Budget Amendment.
The four Republicans who voted against the Amendment were:

Justin Amash (R-MI)
David Dreier (R-CA)
Ryan (WI)
Gohmert (R-TX)


David Dreier of California had one of the more nonsensical reasons for his Nay vote - because Congress had balanced the budget back in 1997, that shows that no Amendment is needed.  No, Congressman, a balanced budget is needed because very seldom will you have enough Congressmen with the fortitude to do the tough work, and take the arrows coming their way, to get to a balanced budget.  This has been only too apparent in recent years, as Congress has gone on a spending spree unrivaled at any time in history - and with the American people screaming bloody murder for the insanity to stop.
Although I am somewhat perplexed by Paul Ryan's vote, at least his reasoning was more sound than that of Dreier:

There are far too many big government liberal Republicans who vote with the Democrats, which is a Democrat party which spends like money like crack addicts.  Until we replace these big government GOP's and a whole lot of the leftist Dems in Congress with Constitutionally-sound conservatives, the country will continue to slip further into the abyss.

House defeats balanced budget amendment

The House on Friday rejected a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, falling well short of the two-thirds vote required and signaling a striking slide since the amendment’s high point in the 1990s.

More at The Washington Times