U.S. Sen Lindsey Graham returned to where his political career started to ask South Carolina lawmakers to pass a proposal amendment to the U.S. Constitution to require a balanced federal budget.
Graham said Tuesday that states need to put pressure on the U.S. House and Senate to stop them from spending more money than they take in.
"It would limit the federal government's desire to be everything to everybody," the Republican senator said in the second floor lobby of the Statehouse, just steps from where his political career began as a South Carolina House member.
State lawmakers said they were working on drafting an amendment to join the roughly two-dozen states that have already passed some form of a balanced budget amendment. Thirty-eight states would have to ratify the amendment to put it in the Constitution
Graham was introduced by both Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey of Edgefield and House Speaker Jay Lucas.
"It's time for our country to demand our federal government stop their irresponsible spending," said Lucas, a Republican from Hartsville.