Senate GOP Press Conference Canceled
On March 16th a group of Senators, some of which we've been working with, sent out a Media Advisory saying that they would be holding a press conference, today, Thursday March 17th, to unveil a Balanced Budget Amendment. This press conference has been delayed. Please read the below article and tweet and recommend it. Let's keep the campaign growing by bringing friends and family aboard.
Senate GOP leaders put balanced-budget amendment on hold
By Peter Schroeder - 03/17/11 11:56 AM ET
A sweeping proposal to add a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution has been delayed in the Senate after GOP leaders decided it should have unanimous Republican support before it moves forward.
The decision has some conservative lawmakers grumbling and asking questions about whether Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is seriously willing to consider the proposal, or is looking to squash it.
It forced backers of the amendment to cancel a planned Thursday press conference to unveil their proposal. The press conference was announced on Wednesday.
One source noted that McConnell has yet to sign on to the amendment himself, driving concern that he may simply be seeking to table the measure.
"If McConnell was really serious about this, he would jump on the bill and cosponsor it himself," the source said.
Other Republicans said there was broad agreement at a Wednesday meeting between leaders and supporters of the amendment that there should be a unified GOP front before it is introduced.
McConnell's office declined to comment, but a person who attended the meeting said there was unanimous agreement on the need for a balanced budget amendment and there was equal interest in getting every Republican to sign on before pushing it forward.
The amendment would require Congress to balance the budget every year, and would make it more difficult to increase taxes. It would also cap spending at 18 percent of gross domestic product.
Five GOP senators were prepared to move forward with a single amendment on Thursday that would have combined their earlier proposals. Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) had been working together on one amendment, while Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) had been working on another. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), a backer of the Kyl-Lee amendment, was also set to sign on to the effort.
One GOP source told The Hill that McConnell called for the group to hold off because he believed a balanced budget proposal would be more "potent" if it was sponsored by all 47 Republican senators.
Another GOP source said Republican leadership's priority was presenting a unified front on a balanced budget amendment at the outset.
"I think there was a push by leadership to make sure we're delivering this in a unified way," the source said.
A spokesperson for Hatch, who was set to sign on to the amendment, said he had no problem with the delay.
"It's just one of those things, in the interest of trying to get as much broad support as we can, that we should postpone the news conference," said Antonia Ferrier, a spokesperson for the senator.
The GOP amendment would need to be approved by a two-thirds majority in the House and Senate, and then ratified by three-fourths of the states for it to become part of the Constitution.
