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Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Cut, Cap, and Balance Pledge Gaining Traction

On a sparkling Independence day in Clear Lake Iowa, Republican presidential candidate Michelle Bachman worked a parade crowd and asserted a bit of independence from the GOP pack of candidates. Bachmann, along with Republican Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, is one of only two Republican contenders not to sign a pledge to cut, cap and balance the federal budget.

That pledge, the brainchild of the Republican Study Committee, has been gaining steam in recent days as another litmus test for Republican candidates. It calls for immediate spending cuts to reduce the deficit by half next year. It would also impose enforceable caps that bring spending in line with average revenues at 18 percent of the GDP. And finally, it would require House and Senate passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution.

Some say the pledge offers an escape from the debt ceiling gridlock presently paralyzing Congress. But Bachmann wants it to go further, by defunding President Obama's Affordable Healthcare Act. She says she's "mulling over" signing the pledge.

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