John W. Olver: “I also favor the Wise capital budgeting balanced budget amendment version because I do not support adding…”

“I also favor the Wise capital budgeting balanced budget amendment version because I do not support adding public-policy-related supermajority requirements to the Constitution. Supermajority votes are appropriate in the checks-and-balances interplay between the co-equal branches of government, like ratification of treaties, override of vetoes, and the impeachment or approval of executive or judicial branch officers. They are also appropriate for explusion of Members of Congress, an extreme action which constitutes, in a sense, an override of the will of the people. But final say on issues like annual budget policy should not be constitutionally delegated to a minority, as Madison warned in the Federalist Papers. If we constrain revenue and expenditure numbers to a supermajority requirement, we put ourselves on a slippery slope to other ideologically based encroachments on the principle of majority rule, a fundamental tenet of our Constitution as it now reads. Irresponsible borrowing certainly must end, but responsible governing should not.”