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Posts Tagged ‘One More Vote’
February 8th, 2011 at 5:29 pm
Balanced Budget Amendment Gains Democratic Support

Recently, Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) signed on as a co-sponsor to Senator Richard Shelby’s (R-AL) balanced budget amendment bill, marking the first time a Democratic senator has supported such a measure since Zell Miller (D-GA) did eight years ago.

While Shelby’s version differs in some ways from the framework promoted by CFIF’s “One More Vote” initiative, Udall’s surprise support is welcome news.  Getting bipartisan consensus on the need to rein in federal spending is the sine qua non of real budget reform.

My hat is off to Udall for putting himself on the record in favor of spending restraint.  Now, it’s time to convert his Democratic brethren.

H/T: U.S. News & World Report

January 4th, 2011 at 2:16 pm
U.S. National Debt Jumps Past $14 Trillion Mark

According to the U.S. Treasury, on December 31 the National Debt stood at a whopping $14,025,215,218,708.52, breaking the $14 trillion mark for the first time in our nation’s history.  As CBSNews.com reported yesterday: 

It took just 7 months for the National Debt to increase from $13 trillion on June 1, 2010 to $14 trillion on Dec. 31. It also means the debt is fast approaching the statutory ceiling [of] $14.294 trillion set by Congress and signed into law by President Obama last February.

Congress must get serious about implementing significant across-the-board spending cuts and it should use the pending vote on the debt ceiling to ensure that happens.  Furthermore, we need to stop the bleeding by forcing Congress and the president, via a constitutional amendment, to present and pass a balanced federal budget annually without raising taxes.

December 14th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
Trimming the Fat in the Federal Budget
Posted by Print

The folks over at Reason TV never miss a chance to make complex public policy simultaneously comprehensible and funny (how else to explain their decision to augment Nick Gillespie’s Ian Malcolm look with a chef’s hat?). Take a look at their new video on how to balance the federal budget and then visit the link where they explain their plan in detail. As a comprehensive look at how Congress could get the deficit mess under control without raising taxes, it’s a logical compliment to CFIF’s One More Vote campaign.

 

 

October 20th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
CFIF’s Troy Senik on Foxnews.com: “America’s Last Chance?”
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In an op-ed published today on Foxnews.com, CFIF’s Troy Senik makes the case for a Constitutional Amendment to force Congress to rein in excessive federal spending.  Such a Constitutional Amendment is being pushed as part of CFIF’s “One More Vote” project:

If, as expected, a new generation of economic conservatives join the ranks of the United States Congress in the wake of the upcoming midterm elections, they will face a momentous challenge: how to finally deliver on the promises of fiscal restraint that have so often eluded recent Republican majorities.

To do so, they will need to understand how past congressional failures have set us on the road to reckless spending and how dire the consequences will be if we don’t change paths soon.

In 1995, Congress came within inches of passing a Balanced Budget Amendment.

In that moment, we stood on the precipice of long-term fiscal responsibility. But the amendment failed — by one vote.

Fast-forward to the present and it becomes obvious that the fateful decision not to discipline our spending habits has saddled the nation with an unsustainable economic burden. Since the Balance Budget Amendment failed, our national debt has climbed to more than $13 trillion.

By 2020, the total gross federal debt, including liabilities for Social Security and Medicare,– is anticipated to reach 122 percent of GDP. Even without factoring in entitlement obligations, this will translate to a debt burden of more than $170,000 for every American family. …

Senik goes on to note:

If this trend continues unbroken, the United States will find itself poised for the same kind of decline that has beset nations like Greece and states like California. But there’s still a limited window left for us to stave off disaster.

Any serious approach to our economic travails will have to tackle three issues simultaneously: the need for balanced budgets, the danger of tax increases during a time of recession and the prevention of an expansion of the nation’s debt load. The current national consensus for common-sense budget reforms provides leaders in Washington the impetus and the opportunity to address all three.

What’s needed is a Constitutional Amendment requiring 60 percent of the Senate and House of Representatives to vote in the affirmative for any piece of legislation that increases the debt ceiling, raises current taxes or imposes new taxes. The Constitutional Amendment should also require Congress to pass a balanced federal budget annually.

By embracing balanced budgets, these common-sense reforms embrace the legacy of the original Balanced Budget Amendment campaign of the mid-1990s. But they also recognize that balancing the federal ledger is a necessary, but not sufficient, step to getting our fiscal house in order.

Read Senik’s entire piece here.

October 6th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
The ‘Congressional Effect’ Strikes Again

Earlier, CFIF profiled Eric Singer of Congressional Effect Management as the foremost proponent of avoiding political risk by investing in the stock market only when Congress it out of session.  In his own commentary, Singer blasts Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) do-nothing-right caucus for failing to address the budget crisis they created:

As the nation watches in horror as its debt begins to grow beyond the point of no return, the Congressional Budget Office continues statically scoring all legislation.

It assumes that if tax rates are raised, taxes received by the Treasury will go up proportionately. It disregards the impact of the extra 10 billion hours it now takes to figure out our taxes.

It ignores the fact that in the face of 1,400 new regulations from health care and financial overhauls (Sarbanes-Oxley had only 16), virtually all businesses will slow down and hoard cash as they try to understand what the new rules might be.

Static scoring assumes that the uncertainty created by the presence of new laws and new regulations does not affect behavior or taxes collected. Static scoring assumes some sucker will always be available to buy our debt no matter how much we waste. Worst of all, it assumes no one will change behavior to reduce taxes.

Every assumption of the static scoring model is demonstrably false. Higher tax rates usually result in lower revenues as people change their actions to reduce their tax burden. This will certainly happen if some or all of the Bush tax cuts expire and the economy continues to sag as a result. The time, cost and restraints of new regulations can choke businesses.

The kind of rampant uncertainty caused by the explosion in federal regulations will continue to slow America’s economic recovery.  Riffing on Singer, maybe after passing CFIF’s ‘One More Vote’ initiative, the country can pass a constitutional amendment to limit the amount of congressional work days.

H/T: Investor’s Business Daily

October 1st, 2010 at 12:08 pm
Podcast: Campaign to Force Washington to Stop the Excessive Spending
Posted by Print

Interview with CFIF Senior Fellow Troy Senik on CFIF’s “One More Vote” grassroots campaign to force Washington to balance the federal budget annually without leaving a back door open to tax increases.

Listen to the interview here.

September 29th, 2010 at 11:47 am
CFIF’s “One More Vote” Campaign Launches Ad in Support of Balancing the Federal Budget Without Raising Taxes

Earlier this month, the Center for Individual Freedom launched its “One More Vote” campaign in support of a constitutional amendment requiring Congress to balance the federal budget without raising taxes.

This week, the campaign launched its first 30-second ad, which can be viewed below.

 

CFIF’s goal is to get this ad in front of as many concerned Americans as possible, but we need your help.  Please consider a contribution to CFIF’s “One More Vote” initiative today to help us publicize this urgent campaign to force the politicians in Washington to stop the spending. 

To make a donation, click here.

September 24th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
CFIF’s “One More Vote”: Something the “Pledge to America” Omitted
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Conservative reaction to the House Republicans’ “Pledge to America” varies.  Whatever one’s views toward the plan, however, it did omit an item high on conservatives’ agenda:  a proposed Constitutional balanced budget amendment.  Enter CFIF’s “One More Vote,” which refers to the fact that Congress fell just one vote short in the 1990s of passing a balanced budget amendment and sending it to the states for ratification.  Our “One More Vote” initiative, which readers are urged to sign, would not only require a balanced budget, but prevent that from becoming a convenient excuse to raise taxes by requiring a 60% supermajority to create or increase taxes, or to raise the nation’s debt ceiling.

Party change won’t be enough this time around.  With “One More Vote,” we can collectively create something more lasting for America’s future generations.

September 17th, 2010 at 9:05 am
“It’s the Spending, Stupid”: WSJ’s Daniel Henninger Should Like CFIF’s “One More Vote” Initiative
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In his weekly Wonder Land column entitled “It’s the Spending, Stupid,” The Wall Street Journal’s Daniel Henninger describes how “concern” over out-of-control federal spending has reached the boiling point:

They, the voters, are not ‘concerned’ about Uncle Sam’s spending floating toward the moon.  They are enraged, furious, crazed and desperate.”

Heninger rightfully points out that it won’t be enough for voters to simply return Republicans to House and Senate majorities this November.  Rather, something more lasting, tangible, and assuring is needed:

If voters give control of the House to the GOP, the party desperately needs to establish credibility on spending.  Absent that, little else is possible.  Independent voters now know that the national Democratic Party, hopelessly joined to the public-sector unions, will never stabilize public outlays.  In a sense, the GOP’s impending victory is meaningless, a win by default.  If the Republican rookies entering Congress next year don’t do something identifiably real to stop the federal spending balloon, voters two years from now will start throwing the GOP under the bus.”

Enter CFIF’s new “One More Vote” citizen activist campaign.  “One More Vote” refers to the fact that Congress fell just one vote short in the 1990s of passing a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget, and sending it to the states for ratification.  Echoing Daniel Henninger’s commentary this week, the “One More Vote” homepage states that, “Currently, there are several worthy ideas proposed in Congress.  But we need more than ideas.  We need a solution.”  Accordingly, “One More Vote” proposes a Constitutional amendment requiring (1) a federal balanced budget annually, (2) a 60% majority of both houses of Congress to raise the debt ceiling, and (3) a 60% vote of both houses of Congress to increase or create new taxes.

It’s precisely the type of real, lasting and tangible change that enraged American voters described by Henninger demand.  Click on “One More Vote” now, and join the movement.  This time, let’s make sure the change is real.

September 8th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
CFIF’s OneMoreVote.org Campaign Featured in Politico’s “Playbook,” MSNBC’s “First Read” and The Hill’s “On The Money”

The Center for Individual Freedom yesterday lauched its OneMoreVote.org initiative designed to stop the reckless spending  in Washington.  The campaign was featured in Politico’s “Playbook, MSNBC’s “First Read” and The Hill’s “On the Money”:

Politico’s Playbook:

OUT TODAY: “The Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF) is announcing the launch of the ‘One More Vote’ campaign and website: OneMoreVote.org. The initiative is a grassroots-driven, online enlistment of activists across America focused on pressuring Congress and the administration to enact fundamental spending and budget reforms. … The One More Vote campaign name and concept is a nod to the Balanced Budget Amendment reform effort, a measure that fell just one vote short of passage. On Twitter: @OneMoreVoteCFIF.”

MSNBC’s First Read:

Per a source, “The Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF) is announcing the launch of the ‘One More Vote’ campaign and website: OneMoreVote.org. The initiative is a grassroots-driven, online enlistment of activists across America focused on pressuring Congress and the administration to enact fundamental spending and budget reforms.”

The Hill’s On the Money:

 More from fiscal hawks this week…

The right-leaning Center for Individual Freedom launches on Tuesday the “One More Vote” campaign, seeking to require supermajorities in both the House and Senate for passage of any budget that projects a deficit, any tax hike and any debt limit increase. The name is a reference to the balanced budget amendment, which fell short of Senate passage by one vote in 1997.  http://bit.ly/9agHwr

If you haven’t already joined this growing movement, please do so here.

September 7th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
CFIF Launches OneMoreVote.org Initiative on Spending, Budget Reform
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15 Years and $13 Trillion in Debt Later, A Grassroots Campaign For ‘One More Vote’ Starts Anew

Washington, D.C. – The Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF) today announced the launch of the “One More Vote” campaign and its accompanying website OneMoreVote.org, designed as a grassroots-driven, online enlistment of activists across America focused on pressuring Congress and the administration to enact fundamental spending and budget reforms and change the wasteful tax, borrow and spend policies currently part of the culture in Washington, DC.

The One More Vote campaign is built on a foundation of both grassroots and legislative advocacy: activists become participants and supporters of the “Your Vote, Your Voice” coalition focused on registering spending and budget reforms as a top priority with lawmakers in Washington, while also presenting common-sense reforms that require a balanced federal budget and higher vote thresholds when raising existing taxes, imposing new taxes or raising the federal debt limit.

The One More Vote campaign name and concept is a nod to the last visible public battle over budget and spending reforms in Congress in 1995 and 1997: the Balanced Budget Amendment reform effort, a measure that fell just one vote short of passage.

“According to expert estimates, our nation’s debt of $13 trillion will skyrocket to more than $20 trillion by the year 2020, or sooner” said Jeff Mazzella, CFIF’s President.  “The fiscal policies being pursued by Congress and the administration only make matters worse.  President Obama’s budgets are projected to run up more debt than all other presidents in American history – from George Washington to George W. Bush – combined. Americans are angry with the status quo, ready to take action and ready to pressure Congress with budget principles that individual taxpayers already apply to themselves.”

The One More Vote effort lays the groundwork for real and meaningful legislation and allows voters and individual activists to become citizen cosponsors of the One More Vote agenda focused on reforming out-of-control spending policies and saving America from economic ruin.

The One More Vote agenda includes what CFIF is calling “The 60% Solution” reform package, which calls for a Constitutional Amendment requiring:

• A federal balanced budget annually;
• A 60% vote, in both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, to raise the debt ceiling; and
• A 60% vote, in both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, to increase taxes or impose new taxes.

Through OneMoreVote.org, individual Americans are participants in the reform process by learning more about The 60% Solution, signing on as a citizen cosponsors and contacting Congress to urge their support for The 60% Solution.

Read more here.

Join the effort here.

Follow on Twitter here. (@OneMoreVoteCFIF)