Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio, wants to bring to the nation what he's done for his state – balance the budget.
Before balancing Ohio's budget, Kasich served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001, and as head of the House Budget Committee helped pass the 1997 budget agreement that balanced the federal budget.
"But once the team of us left, everything went south and they just started spending again," Kasich said Thursday on Fox News Channel's "Your World with Neil Cavuto."
Cavuto was skeptical of Congress passing a balanced budget amendment, but Kasich insisted it could be done if 34 states demand it.
If 34 states say they want a balanced federal budget in the Constitution Congress will listen because they don't want to see a constitutional convention, he said. Two-thirds, or 34, states have the power to call for an amendment convention. So far, all 27 amendments have been proposed by Congress.
Kasich said he is calling for action now because "I'm just sort of fed up with it." Neither party can control their spending habits, he said.
Still, he fears Congress won't act on its own unless there is a "cataclysmic event." And if that happens, he said, "the collateral damage is going to affect people who don't have a lot of power, people who are caught in the middle."
Though highly popular in Ohio, Kasich has
taken arrows lately from tea party critics who once supported him. He is using part of the surplus he's created in Ohio to expand social programs.
He defended those actions to Cavuto: "When you get your blessings at the end of the day, when you meet the Maker, he will ask you, what'd you do for those who have less?" Kasich said. "I intend to have a good answer."
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