COLUMBIA, S.C. — Several bills that would add South Carolina to a list of more than a dozen states calling for a convention to add a federal balanced budget and congressional term limit amendments are heading to the Senate floor.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the proposals mostly along party lines Wednesday.
The convention is one of two ways of proposing amendments to the U.S. Constitution, but has not been used since the Constitution was ratified in 1787.
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Supporters said the U.S. Congress will never agree to limit its own power so the traditional method of the U.S. Senate and House approving an amendment by a two-thirds vote and then at least 38 of the 50 states ratifying it is impossible.
The convention would use the other way of amending the Constitution. Two-thirds, of 34, of the 50 states can call for a convention, which could then meet and come up with amendments. Supporters said South Carolina would be the 18th state to seek the convention for a balanced budget amendment. Fewer states have approved seeking the other proposals.
Opponents said the Constitution is not specific on how the convention process works and since it has gone unused for more than 200 years, the convention could pass amendments that overhaul the entire basis for the U.S. government.
In written testimony at a subcommittee last week, the League of Women Voters of South Carolina said even if the convention does not start pulling apart the foundation of the U.S. government, the sharp political divisions in the country would lead large groups of voters from all parts of the political spectrum to be suspicious of the process and unwilling to accept any changes made.
“This would be the equivalent of throwing a lit match into a pile of gas-soaked rags. The prospect of further dividing our nation is the greatest danger of them all. That danger should not be underestimated,” the group said.
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Sen. Josh Kimball said those fears are exaggerated and the Founding Fathers would not have put the provision in if they did not want it used.
“Nobody is talking about putting the entire Constitution on the chopping block. I don’t think the founders intended this to be a self-destruction button,” the Spartanburg Republican said.
Supporters also said states would have to approve any amendments proposed by the convention.
One of the bills passed also would make it a felony with up to a five-year prison term if a delegate to the convention did not follow instructions and took up items outside the balanced budget, term limits and limiting federal power.
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