In 1997, the United States Senate voted on a balanced budget amendment. It fell just one vote short of the necessary 67 votes required for passage.49 of the 50 states are required to balance their budgets, but Congress, like Vermont, has no such requirement. Complicating that is the legitimate argument that should a Balanced Budget Amendment go forward, it could just be an excuse for Congress to raise taxes in order to increase spending.Well, no more. Jim DeMint and several of his colleagues are pushing a modified Balanced Budget Amendment and they want our help.

First, visit http://stopthedebtpledge.com and sign our “Stop the Debt” pledge. It states, “I hereby pledge to support only those candidates who demand that Congress stop the debt and pass a Balanced Budget Amendment.”In the last 10 years, Congress has raised the debt ceiling 10 times, but it has not voted a single time to pass a Balanced Budget Amendment. The only way to keep Congress from creating more debt is to pass a Constitutional Amendment that forces it to balance the budget without raising taxes.Second, call your senators and tell them to “stop the debt and balance the budget”. Urge them to do everything it takes, including a filibuster, to block the debt limit increase and pass the Balanced Budget Amendment. Click here to contact your senators.

Under the DeMint proposal, the Balanced Budget Amendment would

• Require Congress to balance the federal budget each year
• Prevent Congress from spending more than 20 percent of GDP
• Require a 2/3 super-majority vote to raise taxes

The “adults” in Washington should not be able to hold us hostage with debt ceiling “sky is falling” rhetoric if they aren’t going to balance the budget.Sign the pledge and let’s fight for a real balanced budget and no more debt.