A Balanced Budget Amendment Is Essential

In 1995, the House of Representatives passed a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) to the Constitution, but it failed in the Senate by a single vote.  The budget deficit in fiscal year (FY) 1995 was $164 billion.  It is now $38.7 trillion.

On February 11, 2026, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its budget outlook for FY 2026 to FY 2036.  CBO expects that in FY 2026, the federal budget deficit will grow to $1.853 trillion, an increase of $78 billion over FY 2025.  By FY 2036, CBO expects the budget deficit to grow another 6.7 percent, which is larger expected growth than the average of 3.8 percent deficits over the past 50 years.  Between FYs 2026 and 2036, gross federal debt will rise by 62 percent, from $39.4 trillion in 2026 to $63.7 trillion in 2036.  Net interest on the debt will average $1.5 trillion during that same period and continue to surpass every other area of federal spending other than Social Security and Medicare.

The need to prevent this unprecedented and damaging growth in the deficit and debt is self-evident.  The enactment of a BBA would force fiscal discipline on the budget process, by ensuring that lawmakers do not spend more than the revenue received by the federal government.  Families across the country do this every day by making hard decisions on spending.  And every state except Vermont has a constitutional or statutory requirement to balance their budgets, as do most local governments.

Adopting a constitutional amendment to force the government to operate on a balanced budget requires the approval of two-thirds of both chambers of Congress and three-fourths of the states.  While the current divide in Congress over the size, scope, and power of the federal government makes that challenging, it would be in everyone’s interest to approve a BBA to stabilize America’s financial condition and keep the country from heading off a fiscal cliff in the next 10 years.

The Trump Administration and Congress need to make reducing the national debt a top priority for the coming year through regulatory relief and ensuring that affordability through lower taxes remains a priority in future budget negotiations.