This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Utah legislators by law must pass a balanced budget every year. And a House committee endorsed a resolution Wednesday calling for a constitutional amendment to require Congress to do the same.
That came as the House Government Operations Committee voted 8-2 to endorse HCR3 by Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman.
The resolution complains that the national debt of about $14 trillion "has increased by over $3 trillion in the last two years alone."
"We are speeding toward the cliff of bankruptcy," Wimmer said. "... It's beyond time to pass a balanced budget in Congress, and I think it's time to put pressure on."
The committee softened some of the resolution's language, however, removing such things as saying the amendment is needed to prevent leaders from spending the nation "into financial oblivion" as too offensive.
Wimmer unsuccessfully fought that, saying, "If it does offend Congress to say they should not spend the nation into financial oblivion, I don't think that's a bad thing. ... Now is not the time to be timid. Now is the time to be bold."
Wimmer also said he does not favor calling a constitutional convention to pass such an amendment. Instead, he favors Congress passing the amendment and then having it ratified by legislatures in three-fourths of the states.