Texas will become the 11th state to call for a 'Convention of States' to come up with new amendments to the U.S. Constitution, after the House last night joined the Senate in approving the resolution, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
But the Texas resolution carefully spells out the only areas that the convention should delve into."Those areas are fiscal restraint, federal legislative overreach, and term limits," State Rep. Rick Miller (R-Sugar Land) said. "Those are the three broad areas."
The idea of a Convention of States, or an 'Article Five Convention,' named after the article of the U.S. Constitution, which allows it, is a vehicle to go around Congress to amend the Constitution. Supporters say it is the only way that measures that conservatives have been demanding for decades, like term limits for members of the U.S. House and Senate, a balanced budget amendment, and authority for the states to override actions of the U.S. Congress, will ever get done.
The traditional way to amend the Constitution, and the way it has always been done previously, calls for Congress to pass a Constitutional Amendment with a two thirds majority, and then for three quarters of the states to confirm it.
But Democratic House leader Chris Turner (D-Ft. Worth) says the state should go about the amendment process in the tranditonal way.
"We have 36 members of Congress and two United States Senators right now," Turner said. "If we want these things addressed, we need to be talking to them, and demand that they take action."
But supporters of the Convention of States, like Gov. Abbott, say Congress will never 'take action' on things that would erode their own power and authority. They point to several efforts to pass a 'balanced budget amendment' to require that the federal government not run a deficit, which have been proposed in the past forty years and have gone nowhere.
Abbott praised the vote, which is one of his top legislative 'emergency priorities.'“Today marks an important step toward restraining a runaway federal government and returning power back to the states and their respective citizens as our Founders intended. The Texas Legislature has heard and responded to the voices of those they represent, and I applaud the efforts of the Texas House to pass this important resolution.
A call for a Convention of States reinforces Texas' status as a champion of limited government and individual freedom, and I want to thank Reps. Rick Miller, Phil King, Drew Darby, Andy Murr, Chris Paddie, Larry Gonzales and Ken King for their work and commitment in passing this resolution.”
But many conservatives are outraged at the idea of a Convention of States. They say special interests, including those who want to see liberal concepts like free housing and abortions written into the Constitution as 'basic rights,' would quickly buy off the delegates and the convention would spin out of control.