Congressman Justin Amash (R-MI) is pushing for a constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget. Amash shared his proposal with a group of college students Monday night and he’ll host a town hall meeting Tuesday night in Barry County.
Amash is one of 66 Republicans who voted against raising the debt ceiling back in August. He says he’d vote against a deal again if “it’s not very serious” about reducing federal spending.
“Nobody wants a government shutdown, including me,” Amash said, “But my bigger fear is having a long-term budget shutdown where our budget is so out of balance that we have no choice but to shut down huge sections of government very sharply.”
Amash’s proposed constitutional amendment would base the federal government’s spending on an average of the government’s last three years of revenue.
He’s gained support from a handful of Democrats and is pushing for more bipartisan support in the Senate.
“I’m confident we’re going to continue to get more and more Democrats on board with this proposal because they like the fact that its being introduced in a bipartisan way.”
Amash says it would provide more long-term stability and allow some deficit spending in down years.
