Why compact for a balanced budget

Certainty • Safety • Speed • Synergy Why Compact for a Balanced Budget?

The National Debt Crisis Requires State Leadership

 Certainty: The Compact delivers certainty by pre-committing 38 states and simple majorities of Congress to everything involved in advancing, proposing and ratifying a federal Balanced Budget Amendment before an Article V convention is organized.  Safety: The Compact promises safety by limiting the Article V convention it organizes to a 24 hour up-or-down vote on a specific federal Balanced Budget Amendment.  Speed: The Compact furnishes speed by consolidating into one bill everything the states do in the amendment process and everything Congress does into one resolution.  Synergy: The Compact ensures synergy because it pre-ratifies a powerful federal Balanced Budget that can be proposed by any convention with a compatible agenda or Congress.

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Justice • Responsibility • Practicality What’s So Great about the Compact’s Balanced Budget Amendment?

 Justice: The Amendment enforces a glide path to balanced budgets and stops intergenerational injustice. o It limits Washington’s borrowing capacity to a specific amount and otherwise restricts federal spending to revenue at all times.

 Responsibility: The Amendment keeps all responsible revenue options on the table, but encourages spending reductions before tax increases to close deficits. o It requires supermajority approval for new or increased income or sales taxes, while retaining the current simple majority rule for revenue measures that will cause the least harm, such as eliminating tax loopholes.

 Practicality: The Amendment handles national emergencies with three “release valves” that do not enable easy evasion: o Washington can pay down the debt and free up borrowing capacity for emergencies. o The President can reprioritize or delay spending when a “red zone” of borrowing capacity is reached, subject to simple majority override by Congress. o Congress can request a majority of state legislatures to increase its borrowing capacity.

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