DES MOINES – In an alarming admission, Patty Judge told the Sioux City Journal’s editorial board that she not only opposes a federal balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, but she also opposes Iowa’s balanced budget requirement, saying “I did not think it was the wise thing to do on the state level, and I really do not think it’s the wise thing to do for the country.” Patty Judge’s alarming admission is disqualifying for state office, let alone federal office where national debt approaches $20 trillion. Spending within one’s means is a responsibility that Iowans meet every day and voters deserve to be represented by elected officials who reflect that basic value,” said Grassley campaign manager Bob Haus. “This stunning admission should come as no surprise considering that even with Iowa’s balanced budget requirement, the Culver-Judge administration used reckless and irresponsible budget gimmicks to get around the rule, saddling Iowans with hundreds of millions of dollars in debt that won’t be paid off for a generation,” said Haus.Even with Iowa’s balanced budget requirement in place, the Culver-Judge administration still invented ways to spend more than they took in, spending $1.14 for every dollar the state gathered, and going $875 million in debt for the failed I-Jobs program. Their mismanagement led to a catastrophic ten percent across-the-board cut and a budget shortfall of nearly one billion dollars.

Senator Grassley has been a longtime supporter of a federal balanced budget amendment, telling the Sioux City Journal editorial board that the first step to reducing national debt is a federal balanced budget amendment.

28:11

Sioux City Journal Editorial Board: Federal debt…it’s approaching $20 trillion dollars; it’s doubled since Barack Obama became president. Do you support a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution? What would be your approach to trying to get our collective arms around it?

Patty Judge: Well I do have approach to try to get our arms around some of the debt, and it is not a balanced budget amendment.

SCJ: You do not support that?

PJ: I would not support that.
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29:14

PJ: I don’t think we should tie the hands of future administrations with a balanced budget amendment.
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30:22

SCJ: Isn’t the state of Iowa required to have a balanced budget?

PJ: We do require that in Iowa.

SCJ: Isn’t that tying the hands of future administrations?

PJ: It could, it very well could tie our hands. So far we have, we have managed, in government, since we enacted that, we’ve managed to work with it. Let me tell you sometimes it’s not been easy, but you know we have managed to. I do not believe it is the wise thing to do. I did not think it was the wise thing to do on the state level, and I really do not think it’s the wise thing to do for the country.