Angie Craig: “Mr. President, the Dodd amendment is more loophole than law. Whatever the Senator's intentions, this amendment actually…”

“Mr. President, the Dodd amendment is more loophole than law. Whatever the Senator's intentions, this amendment actually would put a two-step loophole in the balanced budget amendment and in the Constitution: Step one: Declare a military threat with a simple majority; Step two: Deficit spend as much as you want, on whatever you want. That's it. The plain words of this amendment actually do nothing to help military preparedness. The relevant wording of the amendment, as it would be amended by Senator Dodd's words are as follows: The provisions of this article may be waived for any year in which the United States faces an imminent and serious military threat to national security as declared by a joint resolution. Nothing in the Dodd amendment requires its deficit spending to be dedicated to defense. Nothing in the Dodd amendment requires its deficit spending to be dedicated to meeting the 'imminent and serious military threat.' After declaring a military threat, Congress could then vote to cut defense spending--maybe with the argument that a gesture of peace and good will would defuse that imminent military threat. Then Congress could vote, by simple majority, for unlimited deficit spending for any and all non-military spending programs. Would Congress use this loophole cynically as an excuse to deficit spend?...”