An Unconventional Proposal, Con't

January in state legislature land always means the crazy stuff happens, this time it's Nebraska Republicans wanting to join the more than a dozen Republican legislatures who want to completely rewrite the US Constitution.

Late in the 2021 legislative session, a resolution adding Nebraska to the list of states calling for a convention to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution appeared dead in the water.

The proposal (LR14) from Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings had failed to advance from committee, and a motion to pull it onto the floor fell two votes short of reaching a simple majority of 25 senators.

But a motion to suspend the Legislature’s rules late in the 90-day session allowed the resolution to be considered in committee once more, and negotiations between Halloran and Omaha Sen. John McCollister produced the fifth vote needed to put LR14 on the floor.

The Legislature advanced LR14 to second-round consideration on a 32-10 vote after a first-round filibuster attempt was scrapped Monday afternoon, the first day of floor debate in the 2022 session.

Four senators were present but not voting.

“Honestly, I think most people were expecting the full eight-hour filibuster, and that didn’t happen,” Halloran said after the vote. “I was surprised.”

The resolution, and others like it introduced by Halloran and others in recent years, have failed to gain traction in the Legislature, despite many conservative senators supporting it.

LR14, like resolutions adopted in 15 other states, would call for a convention of states as outlined in Article V of the U.S. Constitution.

Under the resolution, convention delegates would be responsible for drafting proposed constitutional amendments imposing fiscal restraints on the federal government, limiting the power and jurisdiction of the federal government and setting term limits for officeholders and Congress.

Supporters said constitutional amendments are necessary to rein in out-of-control spending that has grown the country’s debt as well as the deficit. Halloran, a Republican, laid blame at the feet of presidents dating back to George W. Bush.

“The debt clock is ticking,” he said, referring to the U.S. Debt Clock, which puts the national debt at nearly $30 trillion, equal to about $89,000 for every person in the country.

While a constitutional amendment could erect guardrails for federal spending and limit the government’s authority to spend, opponents said Halloran’s resolution left room for delegates to interpret intent.

 

It's madness, for sure. Eliminating the federal government's spending power would drive tens of millions of American families into deep poverty with no way to help them, because of course this wouldn't affect a single dime of Pentagon spending. Executive agency regulations and programs would vanish overnight.

 

Of course, there's a good chance that will happen anyway if the Roberts Court decides to dismantle the Executive branch. 

Republican corporations need a stead stream of miserable peons to work until they die, you know. They're going to get it eventually.