Good News on the Balanced Budget Amendment

As expected, the House voted this afternoon on a balanced budget constitutional amendment, H.J. Res. 2. The good news: it failed, 261 to 165. (A constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds majority to pass.) If you’re wondering why it’s so great that the House rejected an amendment that would require a balanced budget, check out my recent blog post with the top five reasons why the BBA is such a terrible idea. In short, approval of a BBA in the House would have brought us one big step closer to longer and deeper recessions, with major cuts to programs that women and their families depend on.

The Senate is expected to vote on a balanced budget amendment sometime after the Thanksgiving recess. Let’s hope our Senators follow the (rare) good example set by the House and reject any BBA that comes to the floor.