Governor Ron DeSantis visited Idaho and Montana Monday to advocate for their states to join Florida and 26 others states in calling for a Constitutional convention.
The governor wants amendments to the U.S. Constitution to implement term limits and require Congress to balance its budget. He thinks those changes are the only way the country will stop running at a budget deficit.
“As a proud conservative and as a proud Republican, I have no problem pointing out the truth that this is both parties in Washington that have created this mess. As much as I'd like to come up here and blame the Democrats, the fact of the matter is it's happened under both parties,” he said.
DeSantis believes the national debt has ballooned because of institutional pressures in Washington D.C. He doesn’t think that will slow down any time soon.
“The budget that was just passed in the U.S. House of Representatives by the Republicans forecast the debt to be in the year 2035, $56 trillion. At what point is this just going to break our country? I think we all know there's a problem,” he said.
He was in those two states to meet with state lawmakers there to advocate for them to join calls for the constitutional convention.
“If Idaho and Montana join the fight, that gets us to 29 there's a couple other states that are that are on the precipice as well. You need 34 states to trigger Article Five, where you would actually write an amendment and then eventually send to the states for ratification,” he said.
The two changes DeSantis wants, term limits and a balanced budget, are requirements Florida’s government has under its constitution. If Idaho and Montana get on board, he thinks Congress may move on a Constitutional amendment before a Constitutional Convention is even triggered.
“I do think they would write an amendment and send it to the states for ratification, because they want to be able to control that amendment. And I think states like Idaho and Florida, if it's a good amendment, we'll be happy to ratify,” he said.
If a constitutional convention is called, it would be the first time that occurred since the Constitution was drafted in 1787. Sweeping changes could be proposed in a convention, not just limited to what DeSantis is calling for. For anything to be added, delegates from 38 states would have to approve it.