How huge and looming is that national debt crisis? The Brookings Institution recently declared it’s “worse than you think.” Take a look at this chart: Notice that interest is only 6% of the pie. That’s with interest rates that are half of historical levels. What happens if that 6% share becomes 12% because interest rates normalize? What happens if interest rates go back to 1970s levels, and the interest share expands to 24% of the pie or more? We submit to you any increase in

To illustrate the wisdom of supporting the Compact for a Balanced Budget, I wanted to share with you an email I received from one of our Educational Foundation’s Council of Scholars Members, Stephen Slivinski, who is a former Federal Reserve economist and is now Senior Research Fellow at the Center for the Study of Economic Liberty at Arizona State University. If you want to look at his mug, look to the left. Anyway, Steve wrote me in response to a request for research on the

The Compact for a Balanced Budget advances a specific Balanced Budget Amendment that you can read today, and which four states have already contractually committed to ratify. Read it here. Section 7 of the Compact's BBA states that the Amendment is self-enforcing. Strangely, even this provision has drawn the fire of the opposition. The term is included because there is case law that says constitutional provisions are not necessarily effective or enforceable unless enforced by

Carey Pena covers the Compact for America initiative from her new online independent journalism site! Nick Dranias explains why the political class is ignoring the federal fiscal disaster, why the root cause of unlimited, irresponsible federal policy is Congress' unlimited credit card, why we can expect cross-partisan support for the Compact and what CFA-Action is doing to make that happen. Check out this great 20 minute in-depth interview. #nonpartisanbalancedbudgetamendment

The Compact for a Balanced Budget advances a specific Balanced Budget Amendment that you can read today, and which four states have already contractually committed to ratify. Read it here. Section 5 of the Compact's Balanced Budget Amendment imposes a default rule of requiring two-thirds of each House of Congress to pass any new or increased income or sales tax (including a VAT). It expressly or implicitly excepts from this default rule: 1) revenue increases from a new consum

Section 4 of the Compact's BBA establishes the enforcement mechanism for the debt limit it establishes. It requires the President to specify what spending will not take place when we reach a red zone of borrowing capacity--98% used. It empowers Congress to override the President's "impoundments" in 30 days with equal or greater amounts. To encourage accountability for the Country's Chief Executive, the Amendment specifies that the President's failure to enforce the debt limit

The Compact for a Balanced Budget advances a specific Balanced Budget Amendment that you can read today, and which four states have already contractually committed to ratify. Read it here. Section 3 of the Compact's Balanced Budget Amendment fleshes out the process by which the states approve increases in the constitutional debt limit set by section 2. The opposition typically criticizes the mechanics of the state approval process for increases in the constitutional debt li

The Compact for a Balanced Budget advances a specific Balanced Budget Amendment that you can read today, and which four states have already contractually committed to ratify. Read it here. Section 2 of the Compact's Balanced Budget Amendment limits the federal government's borrowing capacity, initially, to no more than 105% of the outstanding full faith and credit debt owed by the federal government on ratification of the amendment. So if $20 trillion in debt were outstandi

George Mason University’s Institute for Humane Studies just launched its new national debt reform page and a huge chunk of the content they use is ours! It includes our podcasts, Dr. Sven Larson’s recent debt analyses, and a number of our blogs. Check it out! With 4 states joining the compact, endorsements from George Will, Judge Napolitano, Allen West, and Grover Norquist, plus the Center-Right academe now joining the fold, I think it is safe to say we’re on the right track!

A talk featuring CFAEF Council of Scholars member Baker Spring, Budget & National Security Expert. Baker Spring, MA Fellow, US Senate, Committee on the Budget (2014) Research Fellow, Hillsdale College (2014) F.M. Kirby Research Fellow in National Security Policy, Heritage Foundation (1989-2013) Baker has spent his entire professional career as a student of Congress and the legislative process. He was a Fellow with U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget in 2014, where undertook a