Assembly Votes Tuesday on Constitutional Convention for a Balanced Budget Amendment

by Kids Forward | February 17, 2014

Home 9 Tax and Budget 9 Assembly Votes Tuesday on Constitutional Convention for a Balanced Budget Amendment

There hasn’t been a national Constitutional Convention since 1787, and a number of conservative groups want to change that.  They are seeking to complete an effort that started several decades ago to convene a Constitutional Convention for purposes of developing an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to require a balanced federal budget.

In Wisconsin the push for a balanced budget amendment has taken the form of Assembly Joint Resolution 81, which was introduced on January 21 and was approved in committee early this month.  AJR 81 will be debated on the Assembly floor on Tuesday, February 18th.

Although most of us would prefer that the U.S. budget be in the black as often as possible, requiring it to be balanced every year would be extremely problematic.  As I noted in a Budget Project blog post about two weeks ago:

A balanced budget amendment in the U.S. Constitution would result in much longer and deeper recessions and would cause unnecessary job losses.  When the economy goes into a dive and people are without jobs, the need for food stamps, health insurance and unemployment insurance rise sharply.  Since tax revenue typically falls as the need for those programs rises, a balanced budget would require cuts to these safety net programs and other areas of spending at the worst possible time.  That would not only take away vital help during a recession, but would also exacerbate the downturn by requiring program cuts and/or tax increases as the recession worsens.

Another significant risk of a balanced budget amendment is that it could require deep cuts in Social Security benefits and/or large increases in the taxes to fund them by precluding the use of accumulated revenue in the Social Security Trust Fund.  Although the constitutional change could possibly be drafted to avoid that effect, all the balanced budget proposals that have been offered in Congress over the last couple of decades would have prohibited spending more than is taken in each year.  That sort of spending limit would prevent the use of accumulated reserves and would be extremely problematic for Social Security as the “baby boom” generation keeps retiring in large numbers.

Depending on how it is drafted, a balanced budget amendment could also create numerous other problems, such as preventing Congress from responding to natural disasters.  Read more about the proposed amendment in this recent article in the Progressive and in the WI Budget Project Blog.

Jon Peacock

Join us to build a Wisconsin where every child and family thrives.

Recent

Fact Sheet: Every Healthy Baby Starts with Healthy Parents

Fact Sheet: Every Healthy Baby Starts with Healthy Parents

The below fact sheet was developed by Kids Forward with the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.  Download as PDF Providing postpartum Medicaid coverage for 12 months will help ensure both parents and babies in Wisconsin thrive together....

WEBINAR: A State Budget that Works for Every Kid

WEBINAR: A State Budget that Works for Every Kid

Rebuild. Reclaim. Reimagine Wisconsin A State Budget that Works for Every Kid Wednesday, April 212-1:30pm CST Register Now In February, Governor Evers named 2025 the "Year of the Kid" while introducing his proposed budget.   We're thrilled to hear it!   The state...

Our Response to Governor Evers’ Budget Proposal

Our Response to Governor Evers’ Budget Proposal

Last night, Governor Evers shared a budget that starts to address some of the challenges confronting families across the state. During the “Year of the Kid,” we look forward to working on both sides of the aisle to ensure that the state budget includes every kid in...

Sign up for Emails

Your address helps us identify your legislators and the most relevant messages to send you.