Well, something's moved.
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WASHINGTON — After days of theatrics, the House of Representatives on Friday evening finally approved a conservative Republican plan linking an increase in the nation’s debt ceiling to the highly unlikely passage of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.
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The political calculus of having this bill passed in the House and putting the Senate in the position of having to reject it remains to be seen. In a poker perspective, it is such a huge bluff that it can't possibly be believed. This is a ridiculous bill, and I'll tell you why before you criticize me as a Democratic partisan. The debt ceiling has to be raised. This is undisputed by every sane person. To link this necessary action to a second action is complicated enough but to link it to an action that has been accomplished only 27 times in our nation's history. A constitutional amendment is extremely rare and difficult to make happen, surely those who voted for this bill know this. Then how could we get this done?
How can we get the debt ceiling raised? How will we pay the people we owe? Because the constitutional amendment absolutely isn't going to happen in the next couple days. Here's why: (cue civics lesson)
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Before an amendment can take effect, it must be proposed to the states by a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress or by a convention called by two-thirds of the states, and ratified by three-fourths of the states or by three-fourths of conventions thereof, the method of ratification being determined by Congress at the time of proposal. To date, no convention for proposing amendments has been called by the states, and only once has the convention method of ratification been employed.
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Hm, given the appalling lack of cooperation in the political sphere these days, what do you think of the prospect of having both houses pass agree by a 2/3 majority, and then have 3/4 of the states, 38 separate states also say yes, this is to be done. Right, the answer to that is zero.
Not happening, just like this bill's prospect of success in the Senate.