Sen. DeMint: ‘A Balanced Budget Amendment Would Effectively Put the Democratic Party Out of Business’

[CNSNews.com]

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) (AP Photo)

(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said Tuesday that the Democratic Party would “effectively” be “put out of business,” if Congress were to pass a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

“They can’t work with us on balancing the budget,” DeMint said. “Their whole platform is based on more promises from government and more government spending.

“A balanced budget Amendment to the Constitution would effectively put the Democratic Party out of business, because campaigns could no longer be based on all the promises of what else that government is going to do. Whether it’s partnering with businesses or redistributing wealth, it doesn’t work in a scenario where we have to stop spending.”

The conservative DeMint, a Tea Party favorite, said that a balanced budget amendment would put everyone in Congress “on the same page,” regardless of politics.

“We would at least all have the same goal,” DeMint said. “We could compromise. We could debate whether to raise taxes or cut spending or some combination of both. But it makes no sense to have that debate if there’s no agreement that we need to balance our budget,” he continued.

He also said that “the other team” — the Democratic Party — has “pretty effectively organized” those who are dependent on government services and those who want more from government.

The South Carolina Republican and balanced budget advocate made his remarks at The Heritage Foundation Tuesday.

DeMint was there to discuss his new book, “Now or Never: Saving America from Economic Collapse,” which has contributions from fellow conservatives Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.), Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa).

Whether the issue is Medicaid reform or Social Security reform, DeMint said, the “common denominator” when dealing with Democratic Party is what he labelled  their “intransigence” — which he said was the Democrats’ reluctance to let go of centralized control.

“But the Democratic Party right now is not really interested in the facts or the best solution,” DeMint said.

“It’s the control that seems to be at issue here and letting Medicaid go back to the states we know will work but yet we can not get the side that controls the White House and the Senate to help us,” DeMint said.

DeMint said reforms to Medicare suggested in Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) plan are something that “Democrats can’t accept.”

“Not because it doesn’t work,” DeMint said. “Not because people won’t get better health care. It’s because it’s no longer controlled in Washington,” he continued.

DeMint told the audience that over his 10 or 12 years in Congress he couldn’t name one compromise Republicans had made with Democrats that hadn’t led to more concentration of political and economic power, spending, borrowing, debt, and a bigger federal government.