Senate Joint Resolution 3 - Introduced
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
BY KREIMAN
Passed Senate, Date Passed House, Date
Vote: Ayes Nays Vote: Ayes Nays
Approved
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
1 A Joint Resolution requesting the Congress of the United States
2 to submit to the States for ratification a balanced budget
3 amendment to the United States Constitution.
4 WHEREAS, with each passing year this nation becomes deeper in
5 debt as federal government expenditures repeatedly exceed
6 available revenues, so that the federal budget deficits for FY
7 2007 and FY 2008 were $161.5 billion and $455 billion,
8 respectively, and the budget deficit for FY 2009 is estimated to
9 be $1.186 trillion; and
10 WHEREAS, knowledgeable planning, fiscal prudence, and plain
11 good sense require that the federal budget should not be
12 manipulated to present the appearance of being in balance while,
13 in fact, federal indebtedness continues to grow; and
14 WHEREAS, believing that fiscal irresponsibility at the federal
15 level, which is resulting in a lower standard of living and
16 endangering economic opportunity now and for the next generation,
17 is a great threat which faces our nation; and
18 WHEREAS, Thomas Jefferson recognized the importance of a
19 balanced budget when he wrote, "The question whether one
20 generation has the right to bind another by the deficit it
21 imposes is a question of such consequence as to place it among
22 the fundamental principles of government. We should consider
23 ourselves unauthorized to saddle posterity with our debts, and
24 morally bound to pay them ourselves"; and
1 WHEREAS, the principal functions of the Constitution of the
2 United States include promoting the broadest principles of a
3 government of, by, and for the people; setting forth the most
4 fundamental responsibilities of government; and enumerating and
5 limiting the powers of the government to protect the basic rights
6 of the people; and
7 WHEREAS, the federal government's unlimited ability to borrow
8 involves decisions of such magnitude, with such potentially
9 profound consequences for the nation and its people, today and in
10 the future, that it is appropriately a subject for limitation by
11 the Constitution of the United States; and
12 WHEREAS, under Article V of the Constitution of the United
13 States, a constitutional amendment may be proposed by Congress,
14 or, on the application of the legislatures of two=thirds of the
15 states, Congress shall call a constitutional convention for the
16 purpose of proposing an amendment, which, in either case, shall
17 become part of the Constitution of the United States when
18 ratified by three=fourths of the states; NOW THEREFORE,
19 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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PAG LIN
1 1 That the Congress of the United States is hereby petitioned
1 2 to propose an amendment to the Constitution of the United
1 3 States, for submission to the states for ratification, to
1 4 require in the absence of a national emergency that the total
1 5 of all federal appropriations made by Congress for any fiscal
1 6 year not exceed the total of all estimated federal revenues
1 7 for that fiscal year.
1 8 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That, alternatively, pursuant to
1 9 Article V of the Constitution of the United States, the
1 10 General Assembly, as the Legislature of the State of Iowa,
1 11 makes application to the Congress of the United States to call
1 12 a convention for the specific and exclusive purpose of
1 13 proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United
1 14 States, for submission to the states for ratification, to
1 15 require in the absence of a national emergency that the total
1 16 of all federal appropriations made by Congress for any fiscal
1 17 year not exceed the total of all estimated federal revenues
1 18 for that fiscal year.
1 19 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That if, within sixty days after
1 20 the legislatures of two=thirds of the states make application
1 21 for such convention, Congress proposes and submits to the
1 22 states for ratification an amendment to the Constitution of
1 23 the United States which requires a balanced federal budget in
1 24 a manner substantially similar to the manner contained in this
1 25 Joint Resolution, then this application for a convention shall
1 26 no longer be of any force and effect.
1 27 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That if the convention is not
1 28 limited to the specific and exclusive purposes of this Joint
1 29 Resolution, this application and request shall be null and
1 30 void, and shall be rescinded and of no effect.
1 31 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this application constitutes a
1 32 continuing application in accordance with Article V of the
1 33 Constitution of the United States, until at least two=thirds
1 34 of the legislatures of the several states have made
1 35 application for a similar convention under Article V, or the
2 1 Congress has proposed the amendment called for by this Joint
2 2 Resolution, or the General Assembly acts to withdraw this
2 3 application.
2 4 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State shall
2 5 transmit certified copies of this Joint Resolution to the
2 6 President and Secretary of the United States Senate, the
2 7 Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of
2 8 Representatives, each member of the Iowa delegation to the
2 9 Congress, and the presiding officer of each house of each
2 10 state legislature in the United States.
2 11 EXPLANATION
2 12 This joint resolution constitutes a petition to the
2 13 Congress of the United States to propose a constitutional
2 14 amendment to require, in the absence of a national emergency,
2 15 a balanced federal budget.
2 16 Alternatively, the resolution is an application to the
2 17 Congress from the State of Iowa, as required by Article V of
2 18 the Constitution of the United States, calling upon Congress
2 19 to convene a constitutional convention concerning the proposed
2 20 amendment.
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