An Amendment to Impose Fiscal Restraints on the Federal Government

We request consideration of this amendment during the convention to propose amendments currently being deliberated by the state legislatures across these several states. This convention is being called under Article V of the United States Constitution for the purpose of proposing amendments to impose fiscal and jurisdictional limits on the federal government and to term limit federal officials.

This amendment is represented by the sections listed, with commentary explaining the reasoning behind the clauses of the amendment following each.

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We come offering an amendment to limit the taxing and spending power of the federal government, under the stated purpose of proposing fiscal limitations to the federal government.

 

Section 1: The seventeenth amendment is hereby repealed. Current Senators will be replaced, as their terms expire, with those appointed by the states.

Commentary: Regarding Section 1, the Senate being the voice of the states in the federal government is required for the purposes of this amendment in order to make compulsory the requirements in Section 3. This is merely restoration of an original Constitutional principle that the House of Representatives is the peoples’ body while Senators are appointed as representatives of the states.

Section 2: The Congress shall be limited to collection of taxes under those clauses specified in Article 1, Section 8 of this document, as well as the parameters of this amendment. The sixteenth amendment is hereby repealed.

Commentary: Section 2 is important because we want to keep the first line of collection as that previously outlined in the Constitution. However, it was important to make clear this repeals the contradictory sixteenth amendment.

Section 3: Any funds not raised by the means in Article 1, Section 8 of this document, being part of a budget originating and passed in the House of Representatives, and approved by a 2/3 majority of the Senate not subject to the veto of the president, will be provided by the states to the federal treasury in equal proportion to each state’s population to all persons of the total population of the United States.

Commentary: Section 3 is the meat of the amendment in that funds not raised in excise taxes that are part of a legitimate budget originated in the House and passed by the Senate can be raised from the states in proportion to their total population. Total population is an important clause because some states harboring large numbers of illegal (or undocumented) immigrants within their borders are placing a burden on the national government and for the purposes of a proper proportional tax, those people should be counted.  States are free to tax as they decide, but they now stand as a barrier between individuals and the federal government.

Some may question whether this amendment is germane to the parameters of the convention. While this does create an avenue for compulsory funding of the federal government by the states, which may be construed as a limit on the states, this actually creates a new state power in controlling the funding of the federal government. Therefore, the limitations of this amendment are on the federal government, which can do nothing without funds and for whom funding is most often the tool of coercion.

Taken in the context of today’s political climate, funds are taken from each state’s citizens by the federal government, then returned to the states according to their compliance to federal regulations and programs. Without this important federal tool, state-run services and programs will necessarily grow while those of the federal government will likely be absorbed. This will result in better-run programs, less waste and redundancy, and a sharp decrease in governmental spending with no decrease in government programs. Additionally, the likelihood of abuse and fraud are minimized as governmental agencies become more local, and citizen satisfaction with their government will be increased.

Section 4: All federal spending is limited to those outlays specified in the budgets passed by the Congress.

Commentary: Section 4, while quite simple, limits all pork-barrel spending and other riders on bills outside of the budget passed by the Congress. These limits act as an important protector for future generations, who are currently “on-the-hook” for nearly $20 Trillion in on-the-books debt and over $200 Trillion in unfunded liabilities, a crippling debt situation that is unethical for current generations to obligate them to.

 

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