Ron DeSantis says he could keep balanced budget amendment convention in check

Gov. Ron DeSantis is taking time away from Florida during the Legislative Session for the larger cause of a federal Balanced Budget Amendment.

And he’s assuring reporters in Idaho that if anything went awry during a constitutional convention involving Florida delegates, he could keep them in line by recalling them or even locking them up.

“We have limitations on what the delegates can do. I as Governor can recall people,” DeSantis said.

“I mean, just think about it. If someone in one of our states got up and for a balanced budget amendment convention, and they said, ‘Well, we really want to look at reining in the Second Amendment,’ I would have those people on the plane to Tallahassee before they could even get those words out of their mouth. It would not happen. We’ve even put criminal penalties in for delegates that go wayward.”

DeSantis went on to say if delegates generated a proposal that was “really, really bad,” that “it would take us an afternoon” to root out dissident talk.

“I could call (Idaho Gov.) Brad Little. I could call (Montana Gov.) Greg Gianforte. I’d call (Georgia Gov.) Brian Kemp. I can call these Governors and say this is bad. We’d put out a thing saying, you know, with our legislative leaders saying no, and it would die. Like immediately we would be able to rally 13 states,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis made the comments Monday at the Idaho Capitol while making the case that 38 states should ratify the balanced budget change to the U.S. Constitution.

The goal is to have Idaho and Montana, where he is later on Monday, join with 27 other states that have certified, he said.

A few other states are “on the precipice.”

To start the process, 34 states must agree. But DeSantis told Idaho media that just 33 of them would make Congress “see the writing on the wall” and push forward, sending an amendment to the states for ratification.

He argued that “both parties” in Washington “have created this mess.”

“I am convinced that you’re not going to have Congress all of a sudden change its behavior for the long term,” DeSantis said, noting that he doesn’t expect Congress to change its ways given “certain incentives” to spend freely.

But it could, he added.

“I have to balance a budget in Florida. Idaho has to balance a budget. Don’t tell me it can’t be done,” DeSantis said.

The Governor credited congressional Republicans in the 1990s for balancing the budget in the Bill Clinton era and noted that the Balanced Budget Amendment fell just short of passing in 2000.

He wondered what might have been if it had passed, and noted that individual members of Congress are trapped by a process in some ways.

“I think what happens when you go into Washington, D.C., it’s a culture that’s developed over many decades. And there’s a lot of people that have very good intentions. I know a lot of the people out there. I remember when they were running for the first time. They didn’t want to be part of a swamp, but what happens is there’s just a lot of inertia,” DeSantis said.