Contact:
Andrea Kaminski, Executive Director
608-256- 0827 or 608-957- 2865 (cell)
kaminski@lwvwi.org

MADISON – The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin opposes any proposal seeking to convene a Constitutional Convention for the purpose of adding a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. We respect people’s concerns about rising federal debt levels, but amending U.S. Constitution is the wrong way to deal with that problem. Moreover, a Constitutional amendments convention is a particularly dangerous path to take.

Yet a joint committee of the Wisconsin legislature next week will consider legislation calling for such a convention, and the proposal could be on the fast track.

A Constitutional amendments (Article V) convention could go in many different directions, regardless of the efforts of Wisconsin lawmakers to restrict the role of our own state’s delegates. It would put at risk every citizen right that is currently protected in the Constitution.

Furthermore, inserting a balanced budget requirement into the Constitution could have drastic economic consequences. It would put the federal government in a position where it could not respond to an economic recession or a national disaster or emergency without increasing tax revenue. In an emergency, our nation would have to raise taxes just to meet the needs of its citizens.

“Congress would have to agree on a tax increase, just at a time when fewer people might be working because of a disaster or recession. That’s when a tax increase would hurt the most! This is no way for the United States of American to be prepared for emergencies,” said Andrea Kaminski, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin.

Calling for a Constitutional Convention to pass a balanced federal budget is a reckless proposal, and it should be rejected.

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