PIERRE, S.D., Jan. 22, 2015—Leading experts and a visiting governor made South Dakota a stop on their national push for a convention of states to balance the federal budget.
On Monday of this week, Rob Natelson, senior fellow at the Constitutional Jurisprudence Institute and Public Policy Institute, and William H. Fruth, a nationally recognized leader in the field of geographic economics and a co-founder of the Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force, spoke to a gathering of South Dakota legislators and other interested groups at the Red Rossa Italian Grill. This event was hosted by NFIB and BBA4USA.
The next night, Ohio Gov. John Kasich spoke at a well-attended reception hosted by the American Legislative Exchange Council at the American Legion. The nation’s preeminent spokesman for a balanced federal budget, Kasich was one of the architects of the last balanced federal budget (1997) when he served as chairman of the Budget Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, but he doesn’t believe Congress has it in it do so again.
Article V of the U.S. Constitution gives states the power to propose amendments to the United States Constitution when Congress fails to respond. Two-thirds (34) of state legislatures need to adopt balanced-budget resolutions forcing Congress to call a constitutional convention. So far, 24 states already have. South Dakota is one of 10 states backers need to reach their goal.
Lindsey Riter-Rapp, South Dakota state director for NFIB, said small-business support for a balanced budget amendment is something fundamental to them. “Small-business owners have to balance two budgets every day, their business and their family’s, and they don’t get the luxury of printing more money when costs exceed income or to saddle future generations with deficits.”
Further information can be read here.
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For more than 70 years, the National Federation of Independent Business has been the Voice of Small Business, taking the message from Main Street to the halls of Congress and all 50 state legislatures. NFIB annually surveys its members on state and federal issues vital to their survival as America’s economic engine and biggest creator of jobs. NFIB’s educational mission is to remind policymakers that small businesses are not smaller versions of bigger businesses; they have very different challenges and priorities.
National Federation of Independent Business/South Dakota
PO Box 280
Pierre, S.D. 57501
605-224-7102
Twitter @NFIB_SD
