Twisted Focus

A Balanced Budget Amendment is the final and most consequential step. The other three reforms restore procedural guardrails that both parties have damaged; a Balanced Budget Amendment reaches the root fiscal habit that no procedural rule can restrain. It requires that the federal government live within its means as a matter of constitutional design rather than annual political convenience. Every Congress would face a hard constraint: spending cannot chronically outrun revenue without supermajority approval and, in most proposals, an explicit, time-limited emergency exception. That single change ends the permanent deficit bias that has turned borrowing into the default method of financing new programs, tax cuts, and crisis responses alike. The sacrifice is real and immediate; entitlement adjustments, slower growth in discretionary spending, and harder choices when revenue falls short but the benefit is structural. It removes the ability of any temporary majority to shift costs onto future taxpayers who have no vote in the present Congress. Later generations will not be asked to service interest on debt incurred for consumption they never authorized. The amendment does not dictate which programs survive or which taxes rise; it simply forces the political system to confront those trade-offs in real time instead of deferring them indefinitely. Republicans holding both chambers can advance it now, before the next wave of spending pressures makes the politics impossible. It will be attacked as rigid and insufficiently responsive to emergencies, and in some future recession it may indeed feel burdensome. That friction is the point. Without it, the other institutional repairs remain incomplete, because an unconstrained fiscal majority can still expand government faster than any filibuster, Court, or Electoral College can restrain. A Balanced Budget Amendment is the one change that makes the rest of the constitutional architecture sustainable rather than merely decorative.

Lomu has played only about 160 snaps -- far fewer than most of the first-round rookie offensive linemen -- but he's made the most of his opportunities. He was impressive against the Jets in Week 6. Filling in for an injured Morgan Moses, he played 60 snaps at right tackle, allowed zero pressures and held his own against David Bailey. His quick feet and balance were strengths at Utah, and they're serving him well as he adjusts to the NFL. Dennis-Sutton has given Green Bay valuable pass-rush production, generating 15 pressures through seven weeks and earning more playing time as a result. His power, heavy hands and ability to hold up against the run were obvious at Penn State, but he's also shown more as a pass rusher than I expected. Dugger has become a valuable part of San Francisco's defense, playing more than half the defensive snaps and recording 30 tackles through seven games. A former safety still learning the nuances of off-ball LB, he's making excellent use of his range, closing speed and versatility, with the coaching staff trusting him in coverage and as a blitzer. Glubin and van den Berg are also NFL starters..