Blue Dogs break with Dems on balanced-budget amendment

[chill_wind]

Blue Dogs break with Dems on balanced-budget amendment
By Russell Berman - 11/16/11 08:30 PM ET

The conservative-Democrat Blue Dog Coalition officially endorsed the House Republican balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution, breaking with Democratic Party leaders and the White House.
The support from the 25-member bloc keeps GOP hopes alive that the measure, scheduled for a final vote Friday, could gain the two-thirds support necessary to pass.

“We were advancing a balanced-budget amendment when balanced-budget amendments weren’t cool,” a co-chairman of the coalition, Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), told reporters on a conference call.

Another Blue Dog leader, Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah), said he expected “a significant majority” of members to support the amendment, and sent a blunt warning to Blue Dogs who might oppose it.

The decision to endorse the measure puts the Blue Dogs directly at odds with the Democratic leadership and with a longtime ally of the coalition, Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (Md.). Hoyer supported a similar amendment when it gained 300 House votes in 1995, but he is opposing it now because he said he cannot trust the Republican Party to make responsible fiscal decisions and waive the requirement in an emergency.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/194023-blue-dogs-break-with-dems-endorse-balanced-budget-amendment

I haven't checked for position statements from the Third Way/New Dem sites, but it seems likely there will be some ample overlap there with that bloc as well.