PrairiePundit

 The Federalist Wire: ... President Donald Trump is renewing his push for a balanced federal budget, calling on Congress to take action on something it hasn’t done in two decades. Trump has long expressed his desire for a balanced budget, but his proposals, including extending the tax rates from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, could complicate efforts for both the House and Senate. Extending these tax cuts is expected to cost approximately $4 trillion, presenting a significant challenge in achieving fiscal balance. On Thursday, Trump reignited his calls for balancing the federal budget, posting a message on Truth Social that reflected his determination. “Balance budget now??? Let’s give it a shot. Lots of money coming in from tariffs. Do it!” Trump wrote in all caps, highlighting his belief that tariff revenue could play a key role in offsetting the cost of his budgetary ambitions. However, the actual impact of Trump’s tariffs on the federal budget remains uncertain. Previous budge...

 Newsmax: ... And during his recent visit to Capitol Hill, Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy delivered a warning to Republicans who do not go along with their plans to slash spending as part of Trump's proposed Department of Government Efficiency. "Elon and Vivek talked about having a naughty list and a nice list for members of Congress and senators and how we vote and how we're spending the American people's money," Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said. Trump's second term comes with the specter of the world's richest man serving as his political enforcer. Within Trump's team, there is a feeling Musk not only supports Trump's agenda and Cabinet appointments, but is intent on seeing them through to the point of pressuring Republicans who might be less devout. ... It will take discipline to impose the spending cuts necessary to get the budget into balance.  That is something that neither party has been willing to do in recent years.  See als...

Washington Times: Michigan lawmakers last week voted to demand a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a move that could set into motion a never-tested, widely feared convention with the power to rewrite part of the founding document. The lawmakers voted to ask Congress to call what is known as an Article V constitutional convention. If Congress agrees with the count, Michigan is the 34th state to do so, creating the two-thirds majority required to force the historic gathering. But plenty of questions remain unanswered: Is Michigan really is the 34th state? If so, will Congress respond, will the courts get involved in forcing a convention, and what happens once a convention begins? “It’s a bunch of question marks,” said Gerard N. Magliocca , a law professor at Indiana University who has performed some of the key research on Article V conventions.  Among those questions is whether an application can be rescinded and how similar the states’ calls must be in order...

Conn Carroll: Today, the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on bill that would allow the federal government to borrow enough money to pay its bills through May 18th, but then suspend all Congressional pay starting May 19th, until each House of Congress passes a budget. The budget provision is designed to force Senate Democrats, particularly those up for reelection in 2014 in states carried by Mitt Romney, to take votes putting them on record in favor of higher taxes to pay for President Obama’s spending proposals. Up until yesterday, Obama had been insisting on a clean debt limit hike, but Tuesday his Office of Management and Budget released a statement saying they would not veto the House bill. “Although H.R. 325 is a short-term measure and introduces unnecessary complications, needlessly perpetuating uncertainty in the Nation’s fiscal system,” the OMB statement said, “the Administration is encouraged that H.R. 325 lifts the immediate threat of default and indicates that...

Byron York: During the "fiscal cliff" battle, I asked several Republican lawmakers why they didn't push harder for spending cuts in exchange for their historic concession to vote for higher taxes. They invariably answered that they were waiting for the fight over raising the debt ceiling. Then, they promised, Republicans would demand serious cuts, especially in entitlement spending, from President Obama. Their thinking was this: The GOP was on the wrong side of the polls in the battle over raising taxes on the highest earners. Surveys showed substantial public support for the president and Democrats on that issue. But Republicans are on the right side of the polls in the battle over fiscal responsibility. The GOP, the party trying to put sensible limits on Obama's runaway spending, is better positioned to make the case for cuts. "We're making a hard pivot to spending," says a senior GOP Senate aide. "Our view is that the revenue question has now b...

He talks about the push for a balanced budget amendment.  He also talks about the super committee and Eric Holder's response to Fast and Furious.