Balanced-budget rally draws tea partiers, GOP

By The AP
Saturday, August 21, 2010

DENVER — Prominent Republicans are joining tea party groups in Denver Saturday to call for a new requirement that Congress balance the federal budget.

Republican Rep. Mike Coffman of Aurora, Republican Senate candidate Ken Buck and former Rep. Bob Beauprez are joining the rally for a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. constitution. Coffman leads a group of House members pushing the change to the constitution.

A balanced budget amendment is a perennial favorite of some fiscal conservatives, and the Republican-led House approved such an amendment in 1995. That effort fell short in the Senate. Prominent Republicans want to try again, including former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is considering running for president in two years.