End fiscal mismanagement

[MWJones (Michael Jones)]

Constitutional Amendments cannot just be passed by a national ballot. Amending the Constitution is defined in Article V:

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.

Of the two methods defined in Article V, only one has ever been used, and that is the first - two thirds of both houses agree to amend the Constitution and forward it to the states.

There has never been an actual “Convention of States”, although a number of states in recent years have signed on to call for one. One of the topics of the call for a Convention is to balance the budget, since it is clear that the politicians will never put a Constitutional constraint on themselves.

There have been a number of proposals here on Policies for the People, and I suggest you take a look at some of them. My suggestion is simple - Balanced Budget for the new fiscal year must be passed before the start of the fiscal year - if they don’t pass it (but pass an omnibus or Continuing Resolution) then it’s an automatic pay cut for the entire fiscal year, with certain failsafes to prevent them from just voting a pay increase to override it, and if the Government goes into a partial shutdown, the pay cut doubles for the entire fiscal year.

Here’s one link to another post where I outline my proposal in more detail:

Balance the Federal Budget

I proposed elsewhere (link below) that a failure to pass the balanced budget on time should be an automatic across the board pay cut for all members of Congress for the entire fiscal year that they didn’t pass a balanced budget for (and safeguards to prevent them from just passing a resolution to undo the automatic cut). I also should amend that with if the Government goes into a partial Government Shutdown, their pay cut doubles for the remainder of the fiscal year.