John W. Olver: “we need to pass a balanced budget amendment, but amending the Constitution really cannot be taken lightly. Our…”

“we need to pass a balanced budget amendment, but amending the Constitution really cannot be taken lightly. Our Constitution has only been amended 17 times in over 200 years since the Bill of Rights. Our Constitution is based on majority rule, and we should not vote to put budget control in the hands of a minority of Members. In all the instances that are written into the Constitution of a supermajority, all of those are instances are where the legislative branch must approve or must override the action of another coequal branch: The affirmative vote to override a veto by the President, the Executive, the leader of the executive branch; the rejection vote to impeach a judge, or a President, a person in one of the other branches; the affirmative vote to ratify a treaty; the affirmative vote to ratify an action by the President. The Constitution includes also the allowance for the Chambers to eject a Member that has been voted by the people, the ultimate kind of rejection. The Constitution should not be amended to allow a minority to control the budget process.”