A provision in this summer’s debt limit bill required both the House and Senate to vote on a version — any version — of a constitutional amendment requiring the federal government to maintain a balanced budget.
Today was the day in the Senate, and as it turns out two balanced budget amendments went down in flames. One, crafted by Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO), was designed to give Dems who wanted to vote for some kind of BBA a vehicle to support. It would have explicitly protected Social Security from being raided to balance the budget, and a ban on cutting taxes for millionaires unless there’s a budget surplus. It failed 21-79 — far short of the two-thirds supermajority required to pass a constitutional amendment.
But the interesting thing is that the Republicans’ version garnered zero Democratic votes. It failed 47-53. Up to 19 Democrats could have crossed the aisle with a free vote, but none of them did — suggesting they don’t believe the issue has a whole lot of political valence after all.
Tellingly, all Republicans voted for the GOP’s BBA, crafted by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) — it would’ve subjected tax increases to supermajority votes, and forced the government to shrink to historically small levels. Implicitly, it would eradicate or devastate key support programs like Medicare, and flip the existing social compact on its head. None of that’s spelled out — which is why Republicans felt free to vote for it. But it’s what many of them believe.
Brian Beutler
Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight, and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at brian@talkingpointsmemo.com.
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