Budget Ammendment

[Filuwaúrdjan]

1. The President shall present a monthly budget to the Senate containing details of taxation and borrowing etc.

2. If said budget fails to win the Senate's approval, the Sentte shall write a replacement budget.

3. After the budget is approved by the Senate, the Senate shall appropriate the money raised by the budget as it deems appropriate.

4. Total overspend on the budget and on appropriations shall not exceed 2% of GDP except in times of War and Economic Crisis.

[True Democrat]

I urge my Senators to highly consider this amendment after specifying what an economic or war crisis is.

[Colin]

1. The President shall present a monthly budget to the Senate containing details of taxation and borrowing etc.

2. If said budget fails to win the Senate's approval, the Sentte shall write a replacement budget.

3. After the budget is approved by the Senate, the Senate shall appropriate the money raised by the budget as it deems appropriate.

4. Total overspend on the budget and on appropriations shall not exceed 2% of GDP except in times of War and Economic Crisis.

Ahem, Senator it is your job to make the Budget don't try to pass it off to the President so you can more easily attack him if you do not like the budget. Maybe you should be working on a budget instead of handing it off to the President because you don't want to do a budget.

[7,052,770]

yeah, I think the senate should do it

[Bono]

Altough I support the spirit of this, I'm not as conviced by the terms. I have major qualms with paragraph 4, which would only lead to backdoor tax hikes. I also think giving it to the president gives much power to the executive.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Check you're Constitutions folks

[TeePee4Prez]

As Chairman of the Stlasians for Taxpayer Justice, I support this Amendment.

[Gabu]

I like this amendment, but I agree that the terms in Section 4 need to be defined.  If it's ambiguous, the president could just perpetually keep the nation in an "economic crisis" and ignore this amendment.

I think that those definitions probably should not be hardwired into this amendment, though.  Changing them later when we have no problems with the amendment itself would be incredibly tedious if they were.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I like this amendment, but I agree that the terms in Section 4 need to be defined.  If it's ambiguous, the president could just perpetually keep the nation in an "economic crisis" and ignore this amendment.

I think that those definitions probably should not be hardwired into this amendment, though.  Changing them later when we have no problems with the amendment itself would be incredibly tedious if they were.

I'd intended to write an "Economic Crisis" bill but didn't get round to it. Can someone else do it? I'm tired right now...

[Platypus]

no way. Bi-monthly at most if a budget is a must, although I'd prefer it every four months one month into a president's ter,. We don't want too much realism, guys, it'll destroy it. If a newbie can't come in and withing two hours or so get the gist of Atlasia, we'll self-destruct, and pages and pages of budget details won't help to interest newcomers.

[Gustaf]

no way. Bi-monthly at most if a budget is a must, although I'd prefer it every four months one month into a president's ter,. We don't want too much realism, guys, it'll destroy it. If a newbie can't come in and withing two hours or so get the gist of Atlasia, we'll self-destruct, and pages and pages of budget details won't help to interest newcomers.

Hear, hear...glad to see you've seen the light there Hugh.

[PBrunsel]

I will sign this bill.

My only reservation is that Section 4 even allows the Senate to spend over the GDP. I also dislike that economic crisis part. The part about war is a necessity though.

[Peter]

I will sign this bill

You might want to re-read the subject line.

[PBrunsel]

I will sign this bill

You might want to re-read the subject line.

Yes, I know a buget will have to be written up and then the Senate will have to argue forever about it. But I must take the good with the bad to get a balanced budget.

[Peter]

I will sign this bill

You might want to re-read the subject line.

Yes, I know a buget will have to be written up and then the Senate will have to argue forever about it. But I must take the good with the bad to get a balanced budget.

I don't think you quite got what I meant. Ask your AG about whether Presidential signatures are required for Constitutional Amendments.

[PBrunsel]

I will sign this bill

You might want to re-read the subject line.

Yes, I know a buget will have to be written up and then the Senate will have to argue forever about it. But I must take the good with the bad to get a balanced budget.

I don't think you quite got what I meant. Ask your AG about whether Presidential signatures are required for Constitutional Amendments.

My apologies, I overlooked the amendment part.

I thought this was an "act".

[JohnFKennedy]

I hereby open the debate on this amendment.

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As already stated, "economic crisis" needs to be defined and I would also say that "times of war" may need to as well. There is always a war going on in the world and it could be interpreted as any war in the world, not necessarily involving Atlasia.

The typo on Senate in Clause 2 needs fixing.

It will take years for the Senate to write a budget what with the fact that we have people from different ideologies, are we to assume we have an individual time vote on every section? At this moment in time I do not support this amendment.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

O.K... first off I had assumed that another Senator was going to introduce a Declaration of Economic Crisis Bill (*coughs*).
I would assume the entire budget would be voted on in one go, and oddly enough I would assume that it would be the job of the Taxation and Appropriations Committee to write a budget if the Administration's fails.
Hopefully this won't be needed anyways, as the bizarre loopholes in the current Constitution will go the way of the Dodo if I get my way...

[Gabu]

I believe that this amendment has run out of debating time (Aha!  I beat you to it, King ).

[Keystone Phil]

Voting will open now. All those in favor, please vote Yea, all those opposed vote Nay.

[Jake]

As GM, I believe this Amendment has not been fleshed out enough to be properly applied to any situation.  Ambiguaties (sp) still exist in the definition of economic crisis and war.  Until those ambiguities are corrected, it wouldn't be wise for senators to vote for this measure.


In the spirit of this amendment, I have wrote up a new draft that I have sent to Al for his perusal.  I will post it below.

[Gabu]

I will vote for this if someone (maybe me, if I get the time) comes up with a statue defining "economic crisis" and "war" that will get introduced and passed.  We all have a general idea of what those things are, but they should be rigorously defined.

[Jake]

*****This is not the legislation up for vote.  Do not vote on this.  The actual amendment is on the first page.*****

Balanced Budget Amendment

1) The Senate shall have the responsiblity to draft a budget in each Congress.

2) The Budget must be approved by a majority vote of the Senate and then approved by the President.

3) If it fails to gain approval, the Senate shall rewrite the budget until it gains approval.

4) The total overspent on the budget must not exceed 2% of the GDP except in those situations specified by Clause 5.

5) The total overspent on the budget can exceed 2% GDP if: The Atlasian Senate has voted to Declare War, and a situation of war exists. The Atlasian  Senate has voted to approve military action by the President, and such action is ungoing. The real GDP has been in decline for two or more quarters.

*****This is not the legislation up for vote.  Do not vote on this.  The actual amendment is on the first page.*****

[Gabu]

*****This is not the legislation up for vote.  Do not vote on this.  The actual amendment is on the first page.*****

Balanced Budget Amendment

1) The Senate shall have the responsiblity to draft a budget in each Congress.

2) The Budget must be approved by a majority vote of the Senate and then approved by the President.

3) If it fails to gain approval, the Senate shall rewrite the budget until it gains approval.

4) The total overspent on the budget must not exceed 2% of the GDP except in those situations specified by Clause 5.

5) The total overspent on the budget can exceed 2% GDP if: The Atlasian Senate has voted to Declare War, and a situation of war exists. The Atlasian  Senate has voted to approve military action by the President, and such action is ungoing. The real GDP has been in decline for two or more quarters.

*****This is not the legislation up for vote.  Do not vote on this.  The actual amendment is on the first page.*****

I like this, but that part really should be a statute, not an amendment, in case we want to simply change those definitions rather than the whole bill.

How about I introduce the definitions in Clause 5 as a separate piece of legislation in the event that this amendment passes?

[Jake]

*****This is not the legislation up for vote.  Do not vote on this.  The actual amendment is on the first page.*****

Balanced Budget Amendment

1) The Senate shall have the responsiblity to draft a budget in each Congress.

2) The Budget must be approved by a majority vote of the Senate and then approved by the President.

3) If it fails to gain approval, the Senate shall rewrite the budget until it gains approval.

4) The total overspent on the budget must not exceed 2% of the GDP except in those situations specified by Clause 5.

5) The total overspent on the budget can exceed 2% GDP if: The Atlasian Senate has voted to Declare War, and a situation of war exists. The Atlasian  Senate has voted to approve military action by the President, and such action is ungoing. The real GDP has been in decline for two or more quarters.

*****This is not the legislation up for vote.  Do not vote on this.  The actual amendment is on the first page.*****

I like this, but that part really should be a statute, not an amendment, in case we want to simply change those definitions rather than the whole bill.

How about I introduce the definitions in Clause 5 as a separate piece of legislation in the event that this amendment passes?

That would be fine, hopefully, this will be voted down so it can be rewritten.