Idaho Legislature should prevent fiscal ruin with Article V convention | Opinion

In the last century, America has prospered and maintained the peace world-wide due to the military might unleashed by the vast wealth generated by her economic system. Tragically, both have been imperiled by a threat of our own making — the U.S. national debt.

To confront this danger early on, then California Governor Ronald Reagan took up the torch as leader of the Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) campaign in 1975. That was a time in which our debt was just $533 billion — less than half the amount we just paid to service the U.S. debt which now stands at $38.7 trillion. Yes, you read that right — the federal debt is $38.7 trillion whereas federal revenue is just $5.3 trillion. You don’t have to be a math major or a business expert to know that a debt 7.5 times your income is not sustainable.

Last year the U.S. government was forced to borrow over $1.2 trillion (nearly 25% of federal revenue) just to pay interest on the U.S. debt. Furthermore, as Congress borrows $2 trillion more each year (to pay interest and fund programs we can’t afford), it will push us ever closer to an economy-killing default on our debt-service obligations.

The only way to neutralize this threat is a Balanced Budget Amendment.

To propose an amendment, you must obtain a two-thirds vote of Congress, or two thirds of the state legislatures must call for a convention to propose it. No matter which option you choose, no amendment becomes a part of the U.S. Constitution until ratified by three-quarters of the states.

The Balanced Budget Amendment campaign presently has 28 of the 34 states required to call a convention. However, like President Reagan, its leaders, like Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Jim Jordan and Ron DeSantis, want to use the threat of a convention, at 33 states, to force Congress to propose a Balanced Budget Amendment.

Recently, Dorothy Moon, in an opinion piece called it risky for the Idaho Legislature to support a call for a convention to pass a BBA. We respectfully disagree and feel strongly that the greater risk is in taking no action and burdening our children and grandchildren with debts they will be unable to repay. We must do everything in our power to force Congress to balance the federal budget before disaster strikes and destroys the American dream forever.

The BBA campaign should not be Moon’s primary target because its leaders want to use the threat of a convention, at 33 states, to force Congress to propose a BBA. That strategy, which forced Congress to propose the 17th Amendment, works because Congress wants to control drafting of the amendment language.

And for partisan Republicans like us, a convention is completely safe because we would control it via a vote total of 29 to 18 to 3. That’s 29 GOP legislatures, 18 Democrat, and 3 split. Even if voting were conducted by population using the Electoral College, Republicans would still control voting 298 — 237. With comfortable margins either way, the GOP could guarantee that only authorized amendments would be proposed and no boogey man “runaway” convention could occur.

Thankfully, the campaign for a Balanced Budget Amendment is close to the finish line both nationally and in Idaho. The effort already has 28 of the 33 state resolutions needed to threaten a convention and force Congress to propose a BBA for ratification. These efforts have the strong support of our Governor, our Senate Pro Tem, our House Speaker and numerous dedicated Idaho legislators. That’s why we encourage the Idaho legislature to finish the job and pass a Balanced Budget Amendment resolution (HCR-25). For the generations of Idahoans yet to come, we must return to fiscal sanity and force Washington to do what Idaho and its citizens already do – balance their budgets.

Tommy Ahlquist is the CEO of Ahlquist and Larry Williams is the president of Tree Top Ranches