"America will never be a socialist country." — President Donald J. Trump
State of the Union Address, February 5, 2019
Balancing the Budget: Democratic Politicians vs. Republican Politicians
This article highlights Political Matchup 104: Democrats vs. Republicans, regarding the issue of a balanced budget amendment.
I hope to reach out to registered Democrats and Independents (reaching out doesn’t mean selling out) who are concerned about the deficit and $17 trillion national debt and want something to be done about it.
I think we, all, agree that debt is generally a bad thing and a lot of debt is a very bad thing.
Near the end of Ronald Reagan’s second term the national debt was $2.6 trillion.
Near the end of George H. W. Bush’s term the national debt was $4.0 trillion.
Near the end of Bill Clinton’s second term the national debt was $5.6 trillion.
Near the end of George W. Bush’s second term the national debt was $10.0 trillion.
(These debt amounts are for fiscal years ending September 30, 1988, 1992, 2000, and 2008.
Source: treasurydirect.gov.)
Right now, in President Obama’s second term, the national debt is $17.0 trillion.
(Source: usdebtclock.org.)
Do you see how the debt is increasing exponentially?
The pattern is clear: Republicans overwhelmingly vote in favor of a balanced budget amendment, Democrats vote against it.
(The following might not be all of the votes taken since 1982 for a balanced budget amendment.
Source: govtrack.us.)
Balanced Budget Amendment Senate S.J.Res. 58 (97th) vote of August 4, 1982:
Yea Nay
Republicans 47 7
Democrats 22 24
Balanced Budget Amendment Senate S.J.Res. 225 (99th) vote of March 25, 1986:
Aye Nay
Republicans 43 10
Democrats 23 24
Balanced Budget Amendment House H.J.Res. 268 (101st) vote of July 17, 1990:
Aye No Not voting
Republicans 169 5 2
Democrats 110 145 1
Balanced Budget Amendment House (102nd) vote of June 6, 1992:
Yes No
Republicans 164 2
Democrats 116 150
Independents 0 1
Balanced Budget Amendment Senate S.J.Res. 41 (103rd) vote of March 1, 1994:
Yea Nay
Republicans 43 3
Democrats 20 34
Balanced Budget Amendment House H.J.Res. 103 (103rd) vote of March 17, 1994:
Yea Nay Not voting
Republicans 172 1 3
Democrats 99 150 6
Independents 0 1
Other 0 1
Note the difference in the vote totals after the Republicans won the majority of seats in November of 1994, for the first time since 1954 in the House, and for the first time since 1980-1986 in the Senate, and before that since 1954.
Balanced Budget Amendment House H.J.Res. 1 (104th) vote of January 26, 1995:
Aye No Not voting
Republicans 228 2
Democrats 72 128 3
Independents 0 1
Other 0 1
Balanced Budget Amendment Senate vote on above House bill of March 2, of 1995:
Yea Nay
Republicans 52 2
Democrats 13 33
Balanced Budget Amendment Senate vote on above House bill of June 6, 1996:
Yea Nay Not voting
Republicans 52 1
Democrats 12 34 1
Balanced Budget Amendment Senate S.J.Res. 1 (105th) vote of March 4, 1997:
Yea Nay
Republicans 55 0
Democrats 11 34
Note the absence of any votes for a balanced budget amendment from 2000 to 2006 when Republicans held the presidency and the majority in the House and Senate. It still might not have passed in Congress because an amendment to the Constitution requires a two-thirds majority vote and the clear pattern is Democrats aren’t willing to help.
Balanced Budget Amendment House H.J.Res. 2 (112th) vote of November 18, 2011:
Yea Nay Not voting
Republicans 236 4 2
Democrats 25 161 6
Balanced Budget Amendment Senate S.J.Res. 10 (112th) vote of December 14, 2011:
Yea Nay
Republicans 47 0
Democrats 0 51
Independents 0 2
It takes a two-thirds majority vote for a constitutional amendment to pass in Congress and then there is the whole state ratification process, which makes a balanced budget amendment difficult to achieve.
Why is an amendment to the Constitution necessary? Why can’t both parties just agree on a balanced budget each year? The Democrats thought of that too and passed legislation to prevent it. It’s called baseline budgeting.
It only takes a simple majority to pass a Baseline Reform Act, so it should be no surprise the Democrats are even more dead-set against baseline reform than a balanced budget amendment.
Baseline Reform Act House H.R. 3578 (112th) vote of February 3, 2012:
Yea Nay Not voting
Republicans 231 0 10
Democrats 4 177 10
My guess is the Democrat-controlled Senate will refuse to even bring it up for a vote.
Baseline budgeting has fiscally responsible politicians boxed-out from balancing the budget. A balanced budget amendment will box-in the Democrats which is why they refuse to vote for it.
Baseline budgeting is part of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. According to entry “Baseline (budgeting)” in Wikipedia, “Presently, the [automatic annual] Baseline Budgeting increase is about 7%.” Each year’s spending is 7% more than the year before.
The Feminist Media plays the blame game and points out that spending increased under Republican control too. Of course it did, that is the whole purpose for the Democrats’ baseline budgeting. An automatic increase of 7% is where the debate starts. If no deal is reached in Congress each year to reduce the increase, then the increase in spending is 7% more than last year.
The blame game is political temporizing that the Feminist Media plays so well, but the vote totals show the FLSUGbDpp (See the Political Matchups page) have no intention of balancing the budget.
I think we, all, can agree to a compromise. For those who like lots and lots of government spending, the budget could be balanced right now at around $3 trillion. A balanced budget amendment will keep both political parties in line and the government could still spend trillions and trillions of dollars.
New media needs to make this information more available, the votes on the balanced budget amendment and the baseline budgeting method of 1974. Please improve it, make it more compelling, and widely disseminate it through your favorite media platform.