Udall to Co-Sponsor Balanced Budget Amendment

Republicans have made clear their support for a Constitutional amendment to balance the budget. Now Democrats are jumping on board. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., (pictured) announced Tuesday that he will co-sponsor such an amendment with Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., The Hill reports.

Udall’s move shows the ascendancy of deficit hawks. Also Tuesday, Hawaii Democratic Sen. Daniel Inouye, chairman of the Appropriations Committee and a long-time ear-marker, announced a two-year ban on earmarks in his committee. Udall had lobbied for such a ban in the last Congress.

The Udall bill would limit federal spending to a historical average of 20 percent of gross domestic product in a given year. It currently stands at 24.7 percent.

Another Democrat, Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri offered a bipartisan bill Tuesday that would set a spending ceiling of 20.6 percent of GDP after 10 years.