Virginia Legislators Introduce Article V Applications for Convention to Consider Balanced Budget

LEESBURG, Va. - Jan. 17, 2016 - PRLog -- We are pleased to announce that our Virginia House and Senate sponsors have pre-filed applications for an Article V convention for proposing amendments to exclusively consider a U.S. Balanced Budget Amendment and other fiscal restraints. Senator Emmett Hanger (R-24) Pre-filed Senate Joint Resolution 42, SJ 42 on January 13th, Delegate Jim LeMunyon (R-67) followed by pre-filing House Joint Resolution 90, HJ 90 the following week.

The U.S. federal government has run up a debt of over 18 trillion dollars, largely to underwrite past and present consumption using resources that should belong to future Americans.  That debt continues to grow.  Congress has shown itself unable or unwilling to operate within its limits.  Never before in the history of this country has one generation left the next generation in such a precarious fiscal situation.

Delegate LeMunyon stated, "It's clear that Congress will not act to stop the mindless accumulation of federal debt that future generations will have to pay.  That's why states must step in to fix the problem."

Momentum is building fast in the pursuit of this state-driven amendment designed to reign-in the excessive spending of Congress.

Article V of the Constitution provides both Congress and the states with the exact same authority to propose a balanced budget amendment.  Under Article V, it takes 34 to states to apply for a convention to propose an amendment and 38 states to ratify an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

David Biddulph, Co-founder of the BBATF, noted, "The ability of states to propose amendments was put in the Constitution to address the very circumstance we find ourselves in today, namely an unresponsive and out-of-control Congress that refuses to deal with critical issues, such as the massive debt."

According to data compiled by the Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force, 27 of the constitutionally required 34 states have active applications to hold an interstate meeting (convention) to draft a balanced budget amendment. Our nation is only seven states away from calling a limited convention under Article V.

The Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force is a non-profit, non-partisan coalition whose mission is to educate state legislators regarding their Constitutional power to propose and ratify a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Once ratified, the amendment will quadruple family income and pay off the nation’s debt within four generations.

To learn more about the national campaign for a U.S. Balanced Budget Amendment, visit http://www.bba4usa.org.