Freshman Rep. Ben McAdams has joined many others before him, including a couple of Utahns, in introducing a bill to push a constitutional amendment requiring Congress to make sure federal spending matches revenue every year.
The national debt was about $5 trillion 20 years ago. Now it’s more than $20 trillion and rising faster than it ever has. Even at today’s low rates, just paying the interest on that debt is a major drag on the economy. If the rates were to climb, it could snuff much of our prosperity.
McAdams, who wants to burnish his conservative credentials as a Democrat in a Republican district, made a balanced-budget amendment one of his first bill introductions, joining a coalition of “Blue Dog” Democrats.