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Rep. Arrington wants the states to force fiscal responsibility at the federal level

Haley Remenar
/
KACU
Congressman Jodey Arrington speaks with KACU.

Amending the U.S. Constitution takes a lot of work. Generally, the first step is passing the proposal through both chambers of Congress by a two-thirds vote. Then three-fourths of state legislatures have to approve it. Another path is through a convention called by Congress in response to applications from two-thirds of the state legislatures.

Representative Jodey Arrington has introduced legislation that would require Congress to call an Article V Convention of the States to propose a fiscal responsibility amendment to the United States Constitution. The Article V Accountability Act, would direct the Archivist of the United States to authenticate, count, and publish applications of states calling for a convention to propose amendments to the Constitution. Arrington's bill would require the Archivist to notify Congress when the threshold for calling a convention has been satisfied. Congress would then set a date and place for the Convention of the States.

We also discuss H.J. Res. 50, legislation Arrington proposed in 2021, to give states the ability to rights to carryout border security. The congressman says the bill relies on the constitutional provisions in Article IV and Article I, sometimes referred to as the “guarantee clause” or the “invasion clause” and the provision referred to as the “self-defense clause” of the Constitution.

Finally Representative Arrington describes his opposition to the Biden Administration's efforts to pass student loan forgiveness. Arrington, who served as Vice Chancellor for Research and Commercialization for the Texas Tech University System, participated in a House Ways and Means Committee Republican roundtable to discuss the program.

Heather Claborn joined KACU as news director in January 2018. She oversees daily newscast and feature reporting and works with KACU’s news anchors to develop newscasts. She also conducts two-way interviews, reports for newscast and feature stories and maintains the station’s social media and website content. In 2020, Claborn helped staff develop the daily newsletter that is delivered by email.