End of the Budget Amendment [Tabled]

[Sam Spade]

Per my powers to push forward emergency legislation (I forget which clause), I'm putting this Amendment to the top of the heap (Al, your Jury Reform Bill will be next).

End of the Budget Amendment

Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution is hereby repealed.

(Sponsor: Lewis)

[Sam Spade]

Oh, and a motion with 1/3rd support of Senators can overturn this ruling (it's 1/3rd, isn't it).

Anyway, I will likely amend to create a clause similar to what I did with the State of the Forum address.

[Sam Spade]

I would personally suggest that something simple be inserted into the Constitution to allow the Senate to legislate a budget process, get rid of Article 8 and then subsequently pass something akin to what Mr. Moderate has done through statute.

[Sam Spade]

I will work on an amendment tonight and should have it done by tomorrow.

[Sam Spade]

Yes, I know I said I would get to this today.  Didn't happen.    But considering this might not pass without a good solution, I think it's important to try.

[Sam Spade]

I motion for an amendment to replace the text of this legislation with the following language:

End of the Budget Amendment

1. Article I, Section 3, Clause 5 is added to the Constitution, with the following language:

The Senate, in conjunction with the President of Atlasia and his Executive Offices, shall provide a detailed accounting of federal expenditures and revenues for the benefit of the Atlasian citizenry at least once every calendar year.  The Senate shall have the power to define the detail of this accounting by appropriate legislation.

2. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution is repealed.


Thoughts?

[Sam Spade]

And when that doesn't work out in one or two years, we'll be debating whether or not to abolish the budget completely--again.

Well, the whole point is as follows:  In contrast with the specific commands of Article I, Section 8, this Amendment allows the Senate to define exactly how specific the "accounting" or Budget should be and how complicated the Budget should be.  The Senate can, thus, pass legislation that specifies and "functionally" allots the amount of time and detail it wishes to place in the budgetary process.  And if that process proves to be too time-consuming, the Senate can always pass more legislation to simplify the process.

Without a budget, what's the point to being here, except to argue with each other.  There has to be some realism.

[Sam Spade]

We are now voting on the following amendment:

End of the Budget Amendment

1. Article I, Section 3, Clause 5 is added to the Constitution, with the following language:

The Senate, in conjunction with the President of Atlasia and his Executive Officers, shall provide a detailed accounting of federal expenditures and revenues for the benefit of the Atlasian citizenry at least once every calendar year.  The Senate shall have the power to define the detail and scope of this accounting by appropriate legislation.

2. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution is repealed.

Please vote Aye, Nay or Abstain.


Aye.

[Sam Spade]

With 5 votes in favor and 5 against, the VP gets to do his duty.

[Sam Spade]

I'm tempted to reintroduce my amendment again, since this thing is likely in purgatory.

[Sam Spade]

Strike "detailed" from your draft, Sam, and it's worth debating.

There has to be a bit of realism - and realism involves, here, admitting that we aren't capable of doing an actual budget unless we play this game full time. Just as it involves admitting we aren't capable of simulating running the US of A on current levels of commitment.

This comment should be bumped

Alright, I missed this.

Lewis, to hopefully get somewhere here without too much hassle, I'll ask you if you could post a version of the amendment I proposed that you would personally find acceptable.

[Sam Spade]

bump for Lewis.

[Sam Spade]

Well, based on what you're saying, perhaps the sensible option is to table the bill until we can get such estimates.  Because the present legislation appears to be going nowhere, presently.

[Sam Spade]

In the hope of getting Al's Jury Reform Bill up to the table, I am going to motion to table this legislation:

Please vote Aye, Nay or Abstain.


Aye.

[Sam Spade]

Youre tabling an attempt to fix a tabling problem? Hmmmm....the senate. Ugh.

My fix doesn't have the votes to pass and neither does the present legislation.  There appears to be no movement for another solution and I had wanted to get Al's Jury Reform legislation up before he left.  All good reasons, in my book.

Though this will be coming back...

[Sam Spade]

Please put this to the back of the legislative queue, it will come up again when Al's bill is complete.