The House Republican leadership is looking at advancing a balanced budget amendment, something of a Holy Grail to congressional conservatives for decades. The amendment would essentially require that the government not spend more than it take in, and even significantly less, by constitutional amendment. In other words, the U.S. Constitution would mandate a certain level of spending by the government.

Some, including myself, believe that this would be unconstitutional in its essence, since it is unconstitutional to question the nation’s sovereign debt, and attempting to regulate the nation’s spending via constitutional amendment is questioning the nation’s ability to manage its debt. However, republicans have continued to pursue this balanced budget amendment for years, and now it seems not a question of if one will be sent for a vote, but which one? The problem facing Republican leadership is that any proposed amendment to the country’s constitution will require a two-thirds super-majority vote, or 290 total votes. The Republicans controlled House would still need to convince some House Democrats to vote for this historically divisive bill. On one hand the GOP can introduce a “super-majority” bill that would cap government spending at 20% of GDP and require a congressional super-majority in order to raise taxes. The other version, a so-called “clean” bill, would not require the super-majority for a tax increase.

According to POLITICO, Democrats have indicated that they will not supply the Republicans with the necessary 290 votes to amend the Constitution, despite the fact that Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), who favors the more ambitious “super-majority” bill, has said, “We’ve been involved in good faith negotiations and discussions with Democrat colleagues and I’m just convinced this is the right policy moving forward.”

This balanced budget scenario comes just as Republicans and Democrats are looking at yet another potential government shutdown over congressional budget deadlock. The Republican Study Committee has signaled to GOP leaders that the Tea Party element within the party is dissatisfied with the Budget Control Act’s cap of $1.043 trillion in spending for 2012 (a $7 billion decrease in discretionary spending). Republicans are in another potential entrenchment as one portion of the party pushes for more in cuts and possible policy riders on the budget bill that would essentially kill it in the Senate, while Democrats are asking for no further cuts and no policy riders that could potentially stall the legislative process and threaten, once again, a government shut down.