In a report today by Erik Wasson in The Hill, he reports that the Republican Study Committee, the caucus representing over 175 Conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives is making a truly radical set of demands in exchange for increasing the Debt Ceiling which will be required in the next couple of months. The RSC is asking each of its members to sign a pledge to support three proposed conditions in exchange for agreeing to increase the nation’s debt ceiling. The RSC conditions include:
1. Cutting the Budget deficit in half by next year. Given this year’s $1.4trillion deficit and a projected FY12 deficit of $1.08 trillion, an additional $381 billion in cuts will be required to reach the required limit of $700 billion
2. Placing a ceiling on federal spending not to exceed 18 percent of Gross Domestic Product. Current federal spending is at 24 percent of GDP.
3. Approval of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution
This would be the largest reduction in federal spending ever and would dramatically move the nation in the direction of fiscal responsibility and stability. For years we as a nation have lived off what some have seen as a credit card without a limit. However the time of reckoning has come. This past April Standard & Poor’s changed its outlook on US Government Debt to negative while retaining its AAA rating. That is the equivalent of seeing your once stellar personal credit score of over 800 slip into the high 700’s because you have run all your cards up to their limits. Hopefully this is a wake up not only for the inside the beltway crew but for the nation as a whole. One cannot overstate the potential consequences of failing to get the deficit under control. Every day we wait the pain involved with restoring fiscal responsibility simply increases.
We should all send our representatives, even those of us with liberal democrats in our district, a message communicating our strong support for the RSC proposal, as well as the House and senate leadership. The Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats have failed their responsibility to the American people to manage the nation’s finances. Now it’s the GOP’s turn. Game on.
Read more about the Republican Study Committee.
A Conservative's Musings on All Things Political 
Wow. I agree with the direction of the cuts, but the magnitude of it seems a bit draconian.
Perhaps it is simply the right’s ambitious anchor in the upcoming negotiation over raising the debt limit.
Either way, the next fight will be interesting to watch.