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A balanced budget amendment or debt brake is a constitutional rule requiring that a state cannot spend more than its income. It requires a balance between the projected receipts and expenditures of the government.
The amendment requires roll call votes of (1) three-fifths of each chamber of Congress to increase the public debt limit, and (2) a majority of each chamber for legislation increasing revenue. It also requires the President to submit a balanced budget to Congress annually.
In its simplest form, a balanced budget amendment would add a budget rule to the Constitution that would require federal spending not to exceed federal receipts. The amendment would make it unconstitutional for the federal government to run annual budget deficits.
Congress will ultimately decide whether consideration should be given to a constitutional requirement for a balanced budget, and if it decides to proceed, it will need to decide whether there should be exceptions to the requirement or if it should include provisions such as a separate capital budget or a limitation on expenditures or revenues.
By requiring a balanced budget every year, no matter the state of the economy, such an amendment would raise serious risks of tipping weak economies into recession and making recessions longer and deeper, causing very large job losses.
If you endorse a balanced budget amendment, you are endorsing automatic destabilizers that will intensify future recessions and increase unemployment. You would be endorsing devastating cuts...
Balanced Budget Amendments. by JILL LEPORE. A proposal for an amendment to the Constitution that would require a balanced budget was first introduced on the floor of Congress in the 1940s but became a regular feature of congressional proceedings after 1971.
The current call for a constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget reflects its status as one of the most persistent political issues of recent decades. In the current Congress, the
A balanced budget amendment (BBA) proposes to amend the U.S. Constitution to require that “outlays shall not exceed revenues.” Constitutional amendments require a two-thirds vote of approval in both houses of Congress as well as ratification by three-fourths of the states.
A balanced budget amendment would be an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would ban the federal government from spending more money than it brings in every year.