Budget amendment: Flexible but stringent

The United States needs a balanced-budget amendment that is flexible enough to allow deficit spending but stringent enough that doing so is not politically advantageous. This is my humble proposal, making deficit spending increasingly difficult for larger deficits and letting the states double check Congress' accounting:

No spending or revenue bill shall be passed by Congress without a majority, in both Houses, equal to a majority plus the ratio of the previous year's deficit to the previous year's revenue, up to a four-fifths majority, or, absent a deficit, a simple majority. Before any spending or revenue bill may be voted upon, the deficit and revenue values used to define the necessary majority must be certified by a majority of the several states.

David Sheets

Toddville