DeMint Eyeing Debt Limit Vote to Force Fiscal Limits

By RAJU CHEBIUMGannett Washington BureauWASHINGTON -- Republican Sen. Jim DeMint said Thursday he's prepared to block a Senate vote on raising the nation's debt ceiling unless Congress adopts severe spending restrictions."We're going to filibuster it," the South Carolinian said on the radio talk show hosted by conservative Laura Ingraham. "You have to do everything you can to keep (Democrats) from raising the debt ceiling because that will force them to do things like balance the budget."The House and Senate voted Thursday to cut federal spending by about $38 billion for the rest of fiscal 2011, which ends Sept. 30.The House vote was 260-167, with all five Palmetto State Republicans and the lone Democrat representing the state voting no.The Senate vote was 81-19, with both DeMint and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., voting no. Graham said the bill "did not live up to the billing of making significant reductions in spending" and contained no money to study deepening the Port of Charleston harbor.As an alternative plan, DeMint said he'll use a filibuster -- a delaying tactic used to kill legislation -- to block a vote on raising the debt ceiling unless Congress approves a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution and adopts deep funding cuts. A vote on the debt ceiling could come in May.If Congress rejects raising the limit, the U.S. risks defaulting on its loans -- a scenario that would shake the global economy, experts say.DeMint rejected that and accused Democrats of trying to scare voters.DeMint pointed out in a recent newspaper column that all 47 Senate Republicans support amending the Constitution to force the federal government to balance its books."Congress has raised the debt ceiling 10 times in the last 10 years -- twice in 2008 and 2009," he wrote. "Still, no action has been taken to stop it from being raised again and again ... We must balance the budget, or we will (go) bust."Congress has repeatedly rejected proposals for balanced-budget amendments. Amending the Constitution requires two-thirds support in the House and the Senate and approval from at least 38 state legislatures.In March, the Senate rejected a balanced-budget measure sponsored by two freshmen -- Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, whose 2010 campaign was backed by DeMint, and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. The vote was 58-40, two votes short of the 60 required under a procedural rule. A companion House bill is pending.A balanced-budget amendment passed the House 1995, but it failed in the Senate.Critics say the GOP's push for a balanced-budget amendment is pure politics.Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said recently on the Senate floor that the panel has debated balanced-budget amendments "at least nine times over the last 20 years.""The so-called balanced budget amendment has been a favorite slogan for some," Leahy said. "For some others of us, we have done the hard work to actually produce a balanced budget and, indeed, a surplus."Under President Barack Obama, Democrats have "stabilized the economic freefall and begun to revive the economy," Leahy said. "Everyone knows that economic growth is the path toward budget balance."Obama, who voted against raising the federal debt limit in 2006 when he represented Illinois in the Senate, now says he was wrong and urged Congress to raise the ceiling this year./>