The Federal Budget Deficit I have already outlined the facts regarding recent federal budget deficits. We all know that current deficits are not sustainable long-term. President Obama has named a panel to recommend solutions. Unfortunately, these recommendations are not due until December - after this fall's general election. (Interestingly, Maryland has a panel considering taxes that will also report in December.) As a democracy, shouldn't our nation debate these recommendations as part of the national election process? Do we want to pay a national sales tax? A value added tax? Increased income taxes? Do we want any additional taxes on top of the new taxes imposed by the healthcare law? The same is also true for our state. We need to decide in this election what we want Maryland's tax policies to be. For example, do we want to impose a new sales tax on services? Do we want to roll back the current General Assembly's 2007 tax increases? How do we want Maryland to respond to changes in the availability of federal stimulus or other funds? Neither our Congressional leaders nor our President have the will seriously to tackle the problem of the federal deficit. Deficit spending has grown over time, and both Democrats and Republicans are responsible for this growth. We should expect politicians to support deficit spending. People do not like taxes, but do like spending. The huge federal deficit we face now is a sign that politicians will spend enormous amounts of other people's money, if they are allowed to do so. We cannot allow this. Our nation's current leaders may reduce their excess spending a bit, but there is no evidence that they have the will to solve the problem. Any reductions will make the General Assembly's job more difficult as federal support for states declines. Nevertheless, we all must be involved in solving the problem. Our nation's system is one of checks and balances. Congress passes laws, but the President can veto them. Congress can override a Presidential veto. Courts can review our laws for their constitutionality. Congress can change laws in response to court rulings. Congress can propose amendments to the most fundamental law of the land, the U.S. Constitution. The Founding Fathers were careful to balance the power in our system of government by using these checks and balances. Maryland's Legislature is part of the system of checks and balances. Article 5 of the U.S. Constitution spells out the procedures for amending the Constitution. Amendments can be proposed by Congress, and these amendments come into force when ratified by three fourths of the states. If Congress won't act, however, the states may do so. If two thirds of state Legislatures request an amendment to the Constitution, Congress must call a convention to propose such an amendment. Any proposed amendment must then be ratified by three fourths of the states, which is the usual requirement, before it becomes part of the Constitution. The Maryland Legislature is part of our government's scheme of both proposing and ratifying Constitutional Amendments. The federal budget situation is so far out of control that it is time for state Legislatures to play the role assigned to them by the U.S. Constitution. If our national political leaders will not solve the deficit problem, the states must act. This includes Maryland. The U.S. Constitution should be amended as follows: * * * * *Article 1: No act of Congress providing authority to increase borrowing on the credit of the United States shall provide this authority for a period longer than six months. Article 2: Congress may not authorize the net borrowings on the credit of the United States to increase during a calendar year by more than four percent of gross domestic product of the previous calendar year. Article 3: Congress may waive the restriction in Article 2 of this Amendment during times of war or other national emergency by a Declaration of National Emergency approved by two-thirds of all members of the House of Representatives and two-thirds of all members of the Senate. * * * * * What is the logic of this amendment? Each Congress has a two-year term, and the first Article requires each Congress to vote on raising the federal debt limit at least four times during its term. This will force all members of the House of Representatives, all U.S. Senators, and the President to face repeated decisions on the total U.S. debt and the deficit. At least one vote must be held within six months of a national election. The second Article does not require a balanced budget, but does place a limit on the extent to which the government can run a deficit. Most economists believe that the federal government should run a surplus during periods when the economy is strong and run deficits during times of recession. Article 2 allows this but also restricts the size of any deficit. Our current deficit of approximately 12 percent of gross domestic product (which is the annual value of U.S. domestic economic production) would need to be cut sharply by Article 2. Finally, Article 3 allows Congress to waive the requirements of Article 2 in times of national emergency, such as during a war. The federal government ran a deficit during World War II, and this amendment would not stand in the way of such a war fighting effort. During times of war, Congress must have the flexibility it needs to support our national defense. I believe that this amendment will force a change of behavior in Washington. Every member of the House and Senate, and the President's staff, will scour the federal budget for savings line-by-line because they will be required to do so to maintain favored programs. Our system does not provide sufficient incentives to spend public money wisely, and the Maryland Legislature needs to be part of the solution, both for our state and our country. I pledge to introduce legislation to support this proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution.