...that move and other refinancings mean that General Fund taxes needed to pay for these and other bonds will jump by $150 million for the budget after this one, helping to drive the structural deficit up to $1 billion for 2019-21. And a check of the debt maturity figures in the CAFR shows that the amount that we already have to pay due to Walker’s can-kicking of debt stays at those high levels for much of the 2020s. So when you look at the record of the increasing GAAP deficit and overall debt combined with the budget tricks that we will be paying a price for in the coming years, and it makes all of WisGOP’s whining about federal debt in their Article V ALEC bill ring hollow, doesn’t it?
Wisconsin's move to mindlessly amend the US Constitution was the brainchild of Republican State Sen. Chris Kapenga, a member - believe it or not - of the "CPA caucus."
Wisconsin has joined the growing list of states calling for an Article V convention to amend the U.S. Constitution ... focus on a balanced budget amendment to rein in government debt ... makes Wisconsin the 28th state ... A total of 34 states are needed. Senators also passed a separate measure that would spell out who would serve as delegates; seven of Wisconsin's nine delegates would be Republican.
But experts say there would be no way to restrict the agenda. "Once those delegates are called to the convention, they are the supreme leaders of the land in rewriting the United States Constitution," said Sen. Kathleen Vinehout, D-Alma, "and all of those liberties and freedoms that we hold dear … all of that could be rewritten."
Wisconsin has become the ultra-right wing mega force in fringe politics over the last 8 years. This happened back in December of 2013...:
The resolution has long been a priority of Sen. Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, "I don't have a lot of faith in Washington getting this done." Saturday’s Mount Vernon meeting was organized by Indiana state Sen. David Long and Wisconsin Rep. Chris Kapenga. The Blaze website reported that nearly 100 right-wing legislators from 32 states met in Virginia over the weekend as the first steps toward turning this fringe fantasy into reality. Saturday’s meeting represents the most recent attempt by legislators to discuss seriously the possibility of adding amendments to the Constitution through a convention.
Yes, adding amendments. Republicans are saying that won't happen, but there it is. Simply put, a balanced budget amendment introduces chaos in federal budgeting during times of disaster, war, and recessions. Plus, we started balancing the budget without a constitutional convention during the Clinton presidency. But revenue surpluses, according to Republicans, means over taxation leading to tax cuts, like under Bush:
Between 1998 and 2000, President Bill Clinton’s Treasury Department paid off more than $360 billion in debt. As a result of 115 straight months of economic expansion that began after an increase in the top income tax rate — which was virulently opposed by the right — the huge deficits left by 12 years of Republican rule had been transformed into a surplus.Republicans are quick to remind us how popular a balanced budget amendment is to the American public; over 70 percent favor it. Heck, even 66 percent of Democrats liked the idea. But in that same survey, Americans also loved tax hikes, but that's never brought up by those same Republicans. The first column supports, the second opposes:
Within months after taking office George W. Bush had begun to turn that surplus back into deficits that grew and grew, despite funding two wars on emergency supplemental bills that were not figured into the budget.
Vice-President Cheney laughed off the promises that the Bush tax breaks would pay for themselves and the budget would be balanced: “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.” But deficits do matter to Republicans…whenever there is a Democratic president.
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