American Promise just chalked up one of this year’s milestone Article V wins. Republican Congressman Tom Barrett (MI-7) announced his sponsorship of H.J Res.191, which would restore to Congress and to the states power to set reasonable rules around money in politics, protect free speech rights, and legally distinguish between actual humans and artificial entities like SuperPACs and AIs.
As solid evidence as to where campaign money politics is heading, Barrett simultaneously announced his co-sponsorship of two bills requiring disclosure of campaign contributions in all amounts, banning straw donors, and closing loopholes allowing foreign political intervention in our elections.
Barrett’s notable move here is responsive to ground gains by American Promise in its recent red-state legislative endorsements of a campaign money amendment. Utah, Idaho, and Oklahoma now count among twenty five states having called on Congress to propose a constitutional amendment like Barrett’s.
Over the past two or three election cycles, Republican legislators at the state level are done tolerating out-of-state, dark, foreign money, and SuperPAC meddling in their local elections and supplanting in-state voter preferences.
Where nearly all Democrats in Congress have long supported a campaign money amendment, Barrett is the first Republican in several years to have gone public in support. Barrett’s leadership reflects both super-majority, cross-partisan public opinion and the weakening persuasiveness among Republicans of the argument that the First Amendment bars all regulation beyond quid pro quo Menendez-style gold bars and luxury cars for influence. Through amending history, Congress is often last to respond to tectonic opinion shifts like this.
Debt Plus Unfunded Liabilities Hit New Record High
Little surprise, the new annual Social Security and Medicare trust fund report was released this week and shows continued fiscal deterioration.
The Social Security trust fund goes belly up (becomes insolvent) in six years (2032), resulting in an automatic 22% average benefit cut.
The Medicare Part A trust fund becomes insolvent in seven years (2033), resulting in an automatic 11% projected benefits cut.
Also, no surprise on this take from Forbes’ op-edit contributor Howard Gleckman:
My bet: Sometime in 2032, just before the wheels come off, Congress will agree to borrow trillions of dollars to patch the [Social Security] hole (if anybody will lend it) and buy time by creating some kind of commission to study the problem.
Here is my Inside Amending refrain:
Congress will not self-cure its debt addiction. Only a constitutional amendment can impose the required fiscal restraint. Time is of the essence. The single solution ripe enough and potentially taking effect before the fiscal crisis hits meltdown is for the states to sue Congress to enforce state power to propose a fiscal responsibility amendment.
Please rebut or offer a timely alternative.
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