Rep. Howard Nielson, R-Utah, says pressure is mounting that should finally force Congress to vote this year on a constitutional amendment to require balanced federal budgets - an amendment that he has again co-sponsored in the House.
"With 242 co-sponsors on board right now and growing interest by the public, there is every reason to believe we will be able to force a vote on the floor," Nielson said. He added that recent surveys show Americans favor the issue by a 3-1 ratio."The House leaders can no longer ignore this issue. And for the good of the nation, we must pass this bill and give the states a chance to ratify it," he said.
The amendment, if initiated by Congress, would have to pass Congress by a two-thirds majority and be ratified by three-fourths of the states within seven years.
"We need this amendment so political opportunists will no longer be able to pass the smoke-and-mirrors kind of budgets we saw last year and again are seeing this year," said Nielson, who should be especially qualified to recognize numbers shuffling because he was a college statistics professor.