This week the Oklahoma legislature passed a resolution to ask the United States Congress to consider adding a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. As The Claremore Daily Progress reports,the proposal requests that Congress convene a national convention to consider the measure.
Some Oklahoma legislature members even hoped that a convention could be expanded to consider issues beyond the federal budget. Oklahoma is now the 29th state to petition Congress on the idea.
The concept has been a bugbear of Democrats for years, but even some GOP members in Oklahoma were against it. Some opposition to the proposal came from lawmakers who feared that a national convention could get hijacked by those who want to weaken existing protections, such as Second Amendment rights. The measure still awaits a signature from Governor Mary Fallin to take effect. The U.S. Constitution requires two-thirds of the 50 states, or 34, to request a national assembly