Balanced Budget Amendment
House Republicans, on April 12, held a vote on a constitutional amendment preventing Congress from spending more than the Nation collects in revenue unless three-fifths of both the House and Senate vote otherwise. Sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chair Bob Goodlatte (VA-R), the amendment failed to pass because, as a constitutional amendment, it required a two-thirds majority vote. The tally was 233 to 184. Members of the 150-member Republican Study Committee, a conservative group, had pushed for the vote after Congress approved a $1.3 trillion spending bill in March. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently predicted that the annual Federal…
