Jessica Mason at PR Watch writes
ALEC's Jeffersonian Project Pushes to Amend the Constitution:
The United States could be on the verge of calling its first constitutional convention since 1787, and the American Legislative Exchange Council, or "ALEC," has been working behind the scenes to make it happen, including through its new lobbying arm, the Jeffersonian Project.
ALEC is urging state legislators to pass state resolutions calling for a constitutional convention in order to pass a federal balanced budget amendment.
The campaign has attracted little media attention, but the pieces of legislation that could trigger a convention are moving forward much more quickly than many have anticipated. Although there are many unanswered legal questions about the constitutional convention strategy -- and fears on both the right and left of an out-of-control "runaway convention" -- if a balanced budget amendment were eventually enacted, it would cripple the federal government's ability to spend, likely forcing steep cuts in earned benefit programs such as Social Security and blocking Congress from responding to economic downturns or natural disasters.
Article V of the U.S. Constitution provides that thirty-four states (two-thirds) can trigger a convention to propose amendments, which must then be ratified by 38 states (three-fourths).
According to some counts, resolutions calling for a constitutional convention to create a balanced budget amendment have been passed in at least 24 of the necessary 34 states. In just the past seven months, twelve states have proposed such resolutions -- in most cases sponsored by ALEC members -- and six of those measures have passed.
Because a constitutional convention has never been triggered under Article V, a cloud of uncertainty hangs over the effort. It is not clear whether a state's resolution calling for a convention can expire, nor is it clear whether a state can rescind its demand after it is made. U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) has asked Congress to resolve these issues, although it is unclear whether House Speaker John Boehner will take up the effort.
ALEC has promoted a model resolution calling for such a convention for decades. But it has recently made the effort a top priority. In 2011, ALEC published ahandbook for state legislators on how to use Article V of the U.S. Constitution to push for a balanced budget amendment.
|
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2008—Debbie Wasserman Schultz Still Sandbagging Taddeo:
I'm sure you haven't forgotten Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. She's the co-chair of the DCCC's Red to Blue initiative who, a few months back, infamously tried to recuse herself from helping fellow Democrats in three top-tier races:
But as three Miami Democrats look to unseat three of her South Florida Republican colleagues, Wasserman Schultz is staying on the sidelines. So is Rep. Kendrick Meek, a Miami Democrat and loyal ally to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi […]
This time around, Wasserman Schultz and Meek say their relationships with the Republican incumbents, Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart and his brother Mario, and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, leave them little choice but to sit out the three races.
|
Of course, just like there's no crying in baseball, there are no recusals in politics - especially not if you're in charge of the very program tasked with electing more Democrats to Congress. Rahm Emanuel understood this perfectly, and he raised holy hell trying to get this message through his thicker colleagues' skulls.
It clearly didn't take with Debbie, though, a softie who moaned "it's just too sensitive for me" when pressed on her refusal to help Joe Garcia, Raul Martinez, and Annette Taddeo. But after the blogosphere cranked into action - and after she heard it from local Democrats, too - DWS started having second thoughts and decided to lift a pinky or two on behalf of our South Florida trio at the end of March.
|
Tweet of the Day
On
today's Kagro in the Morning show, the 5-year-old "mayor" of Dorset, MN is ousted. (Be honest, you thought I was going to say he was accidentally shot, didn't you?) Politico also notes the gun rental suicide epidemic. There is a real book called
My Parents Open Carry, and
The Onion didn't write it. The trials and tribulations of McDonalds' franchisees.
Armando on the GMO labeling controversy, Glocks vs. Docs & the First Amendment. Also: KSU's interim president takes a pay cut to give lower-paid employees a raise.
High Impact Posts. Top Comments