Matt Cover
CNS News
October 28, 2011
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) indicated at a press briefing Thursday that the House Republican leadership is not ruling out the possibility that it will support a balanced budget amendment that does not cap federal spending as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product or require a supermajority in Congress to increase taxes.
The legislation to increase the federal debt limit–that Boehner negotiated with President Barack Obama in August–requires both houses of Congress to vote on a balanced budget amendment before the end of the year. However, the legislation does not specify what type of balanced budget amendment must be considered in that vote.
Conservative analysts have argued that an amendment to the Constitution that requires Congress to balance the federal budget but does not require Congress to limit federal spending to a set percentage of GDP or to muster supermajorities to raise taxes would be a formula for bigger government and higher taxes.
At Boehner’s briefing today, CNSNews.com asked the speaker: “There are two versions of a Balanced Budget Amendment, one that caps spending as a percentage of GDP and requires a supermajority to raise taxes, and one that doesn’t have the spending cap and the supermajority requirement. Many conservatives oppose the version that does not cap spending and does not require a supermajority. Has the House Republican leadership ruled out supporting the version that does not [cap spending]?”
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