(NASHVILLE) — Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) today appointed State Representative Sheila Butt (R-Columbia) as one of four Tennessee delegates to the U.S. Constitution Article V Planning Convention.
The convention will be held in Phoenix, Arizona on September 12, 2017. Attendees will plan for and recommend rules and procedures to the prospective convention for proposing a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. They will also make recommendations to Congress to help determine a date and a location for a convention where this amendment proposal will be made.
The current U.S. National Debt stands at more than $19 trillion. During the 2014 legislative session, the Tennessee General Assembly passed House Joint Resolution 548. It calls for states to convene in an effort to propose a balanced budget amendment pursuant to Article V of the Constitution. In recent years, 27 other states have joined Tennessee in enacting resolutions designed to reign in reckless spending by the federal government. Additionally, six other states are expected to embrace similar initiatives during the 2018 legislative session.
“It is time for Washington to learn how to operate in a fiscally responsible way,” said Representative Butt. “This planning convention will enable states to take the lead in holding our federal government accountable while getting our nation’s spending back under control.”
“Every year, one of the most difficult tasks we address in the General Assembly is balancing our state’s budget, which we are required to do under the Constitution of Tennessee,” said Speaker Harwell. “We believe that Washington needs to be held to this same standard. I look forward to working with Representative Butt and our other delegates in order to make that happen.”
The last national convention of states was called in 1861.
Sheila Butt serves as a member of the House Health Committee; she is also a member of the House Education Instruction & Programs Committee and Subcommittee. Butt lives in Columbia and represents House District 64, which includes part of Maury County. She can be reached by email at Rep.Sheila.Butt@capitol.tn.gov or by calling (615) 741-3005.
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