The Hill News

Deficit-reduction committee member Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said Wednesday that he fully expects the balanced-budget amendment to loom over the 2012 elections.

"Candidates for office are going to have to justify their yes vote or their no vote to their constituents, and it will be an issue in 2012," Upton said in an interview on Kalamazoo, Michigan radio station WMUK.

The debt-ceiling deal signed into law at the beginning of August required a vote on a balanced-budget amendment in both the House and Senate.

The lengthy negotiations over the debt-ceiling helped raise awareness of the need for a balanced-budget amendment to the constitution, Upton said. "It elevates the issue quite a bit more than where it's been over the last ten years or so," he said.

"My guess is that there will be a number of [balanced budget amendments] that will be offered," Upton said, and added that he plans to vote for all of them.

Upton al! so said he did not volunteer for the 12-member deficit-reduction committee, which was also a component of the debt-ceiling deal, but speculated that he was appointed in part because of his strong relationships with governors, who will likely have a lot to say about various spending cut options. The states also are required to ratify a balanced budget amendment.

Upton said he is optimistic about the committee's task, but made it clear that he is depending on the "alternative of deep, unpalatable cuts" triggered by committee deadlock or Congressional inaction to act as an "incentive" pushing both sides to come to an agreement. Cuts to defense and non-defense programs such as entitlement spending would be triggered if committee members are unable to reach a deal on at least $1.5 trillion in deficit cuts, or if Congress rejects or does not act on the panel's proposal.
 
A lot of people "want us to succeed," Upton added. "They're tired of the partisan junk.! This is radio, so I won't say what they really say."