State officials want Feds to pass Balanced Budget Amendment
Republican state House Speaker Jase Bolger wants Congress to approve an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would require the federal government to pass a balanced budget every year.
Bolger sent a letter encouraging approval of the Balanced Budget Amendment so states could work to ratify the amendment as well.
Three-quarters of states would have to approve the amendment to get it into the constitution.
Bolger says lawmakers in the federal government need to be fiscally responsible.
“I hope they understand what the citizens of our state want, and that is that responsibility.”
Bolger says Michigan approves a balanced budget every year.
“As we’ve shown, it’s possible to balance a budget by facing fiscal reality, and our own government needs to face reality. I’m very concerned about the future of our kids, grandkids, and with the way our federal government is going, even our great-grandkids, and the debt that’s being passed onto them that they’ll be saddled with.”
Bolger says he thinks he could persuade Democrats in the state to ratify the amendment, which would require supermajorities. But Democratic Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer says Bolger is using a partisan issue to flirt with a run to unseat U-S Senator Debbie Stabenow.
Bolger denies any interest in leaving Lansing for Washington D.C.
