Dear
Legislator:
On behalf of the National Taxpayers
Union’s (NTU’s) 362,000 members nationwide and our 7,700-plus members in the
state of Indiana, I urge you to exercise your prerogative under Article V of
the U.S. Constitution to advance a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) for the
federal government. This proposal is part of the Freedom Amendments Resolution
you are considering.
As you may know, since its founding
in 1969 NTU’s most fundamental and enduring goal has been to establish
constitutional limits on the size and future growth of government. Throughout
the 1970s and 1980s, my organization helped to launch and sustain the movement
for a limited Article V convention among the states to propose a Balanced
Budget Amendment for ratification, having secured 32 of the 34 resolutions
necessary to initiate this process.
During that time we also led the drive for a BBA in Congress, which passed
the House of Representatives in 1995 and came within one vote in the United
States Senate of adoption for subsequent ratification by the state
legislatures. Unfortunately, the scare tactics of extremists thwarted attempts
at enactment through both routes.
More than 15 years after this
near-triumph, the federal government’s borrowing and spending binge has only
worsened. Just last month, the Congressional Budget Office projected an annual
deficit of $1.5 trillion … which was the amount of the entire accumulated
national debt in 1984.
On a more encouraging note, the
scholarship on behalf of Article V’s relevance and utility has grown
tremendously, especially in recent months. Professor Robert Natelson, for
example, has conducted painstaking research to show that the Founders certainly
did not construct Article V as an afterthought or an accident. From its
conception, the provision was intended to be vigorously applied toward remedies
for federal overreach. Nick Dranias of the Goldwater Institute has, through an
ongoing series of works, cogently demonstrated that Article V is a fundamental
element in our constitutional system of checks and balances, one whose exercise
is both necessary and safe. They join modern-era conservatives in proclaiming
the vital role of Article V such as Justice Antonin Scalia, who in 1979 wrote:
I
have no fear that … extreme proposals would come out of a constitutional
convention. … The founders inserted this alternative method of obtaining
constitutional amendments because
they knew the Congress would be unwilling to give attention to many issues the people are concerned with, particularly
those involving restrictions on the federal government’s own power.”
Those words echo the opinion of Ronald Reagan, who stated
forthrightly:
... [V]oices have been raised warning of danger that a constitutional
convention would open the door to all manner
of proposed amendments. In my view those who warn of this show little faith in
our democratic procedures. The
Constitution provides for both methods and the convention is a safety valve
giving the people a chance to
act if Congress refuses to.
Yet, during this time the naysayers
have failed to muster any credible evidence for their case, preferring instead
to conjure up the “nonexistent constitutional ghosts” that the late Senator Sam
Ervin, an Article V advocate, warned about more than 20 years ago. We are told
that the cure for federal profligacy lies in “electing the right leaders,” all
while Republican and Democratic Presidents and Congresses abused the nation’s
good credit. We were told that statutory measures would bring outlays under
control, even as laws such as the Gramm-Rudman Hollings Act were trampled underfoot.
We were told that elected officials need only “follow the constitution,” and
there would be no justification to amend the nation’s foundational document.
Today, the entire republic that our Constitution undergirds and guarantees is
threatened with extinction due to reckless federal fiscal policies. We were told that limits on taxes and
spending were too trivial for the Constitution, a notion that seems quaint
today as our national debt tests the ominous level of 100 percent of the
nation’s economic output. Unsustainable entitlement programs, whose dire
condition has been known for at least 20 years now, threaten to heap
unfathomable burdens on taxpayers.
In short, it is imperative for state
lawmakers to exercise the power our precious Constitution has given them to
prevent a catastrophe due to federal excesses. Your predecessors had the
foresight to declare Indiana’s support for a BBA in 1979, when the General
Assembly enacted an Article V resolution. To turn away from this path again now
would be a tremendous mistake. As we wrote in “Why You Must Lead the Congress”
over two decades ago:
The Founding Fathers had no way of predicting the
current irresponsible spending policies of the federal government. Yet although
they could not foretell the future, they were men of great wisdom. They did
foresee the possibility that Congress might fail the people. It is for that
reason that Article V of the U.S. Constitution enables the states to amend the
Constitution.
Please review the checks and balances [on an amendment
convention], then ask yourself several questions. Do you think the Founding
Fathers made a mistake in providing the people with a way to reform the
Congress, when Congress was part of the problem? Do you believe that Congress
should be granted monopoly power over the amendment process? … [C]an you name
one country which is not in big trouble because of the money it owes? The real
danger facing America is national bankruptcy brought on by deficit spending by
the United States Congress.
Such words have never been truer
than today. Our members hope you will recognize this fact and pursue the most
rational and safe option now before you: enact an Article V resolution for a
limited convention to propose a Balanced Budget Amendment.
My organization has produced a
wealth of materials that demonstrate why Article V had vital historical
significance to the Founders, and how the Article V process contains numerous
safeguards to prevent any so-called “runaway convention.” Please contact us with any questions you may
have or information you may require in your deliberations. Above all, however, please
do not allow this historic opportunity to restore fiscal responsibility slip
from your grasp because of unfounded fears and ungrounded contentions.
Sincerely
Pete Sepp
Executive Vice President
Letter
