Key Vote YES on Goodlatte-Walsh Balanced Budget Amendment

Dear FreedomWorks member,

As one of our million-plus FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your representatives and ask them to vote YES on H.J. Res. 1, the Goodlatte-Walsh Balanced Budget Amendment. Introduced by Reps. Goodlatte (R-VA) and Walsh (R-IL), it would require Congress to balance the federal budget every year. The balanced budget amendment would limit spending to 18 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), require two-thirds majority vote in both chambers to raise taxes and three-fifths vote in order to raise the debt ceiling.

The American people have to balance their budgets. Congress should also have to live within its means. FreedomWorks and a huge grassroots coalition has aggressively pushed Congress to cut federal spending now, cap future federal spending and pass a Balanced Budget Amendment as part of our “Cut, Cap and Balance” plan. The Goodlatte-Walsh Balanced Budget Amendment should be considered as the third plank to the “Cut, Cap and Balance” approach to permanently taming federal spending.

Our current level of spending is unsustainable. Congressional spending consumes approximately 25 percent of GDP. Federal revenue from taxes over the past 40 years has averaged about 18 percent of GDP, making 18 percent a reasonable limit for spending if Congress is in fact interested in balancing the budget for the long haul. If we want economic growth to return and be a permanent part of American life, it is imperative that we dramatically reduce the role and scope of government. Rolling federal spending back to 18 percent of GDP is a good start to restoring fiscal sanity to Washington.

By requiring a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers to raise taxes, it would prevent the prosperity-killing tax hikes that years of trillion dollar deficits, as proposed by President Obama’s budget, would surely bring. This amendment is the House-companion to the Senate amendment, which has unanimous support from all 47 Republicans. Enactment of this amendment will go a long way in ensuring Washington never gets so carried away with reckless spending again.

I urge you to call your representatives and ask them to vote YES on H.J. Res. 1, the Goodlatte-Walsh Balanced Budget Amendment. We will count their vote as a KEY VOTE when calculating the FreedomWorks Economic Freedom Scorecard for 2011. The Economic Freedom Scorecard is used to determine eligibility for the Jefferson Award, which recognizes members of Congress with voting records that support economic freedom.

Sincerely,

Matt Kibbe
President and CEO
FreedomWorks
[Click here for a PDF version of this letter.]