Mike Levin: “The Dodd amendment addresses a second problem with the text of the balanced budget amendment. The joint resolution, as…”

“The Dodd amendment addresses a second problem with the text of the balanced budget amendment. The joint resolution, as currently drafted, requires that the United States be engaged in military conflict which "causes an imminent and serious military threat to national security and is so declared" by Congress. That word "and" in the current language creates two requirements: First, that there be a declaration by Congress and, second, that there be an imminent and serious threat to national security. In other words, the word "and," creates a second requirement--the actual existence of a threat--which opens this up to judicial review and creates a real problem which is corrected by the Dodd amendment. The last thing that we need at a time when our Nation faces an imminent and serious threat is to place in question the legitimacy of Federal spending to meet that threat. When our national security is at stake, we cannot afford to wait for the courts to give a stamp of approval to emergency spending programs. The Dodd amendment would address this problem by making it clear that a congressional declaration that an imminent and serious threat to the national security would alone be sufficient to trigger the exception.”