The US owes $20 trillion -- this may be the only way to get a balanced budget amendment

The United States is currently $20 trillion in debt, and Congress has yet to submit a balanced budget. A balanced budget amendment to the Constitution was submitted in January by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), but has yet to be ratified.

Chip DeMoss, the CEO of the Compact for America Educational Foundation, supports an Article V solution to making a balanced federal budget the law of the land. His is one of several efforts in the past thirty years to make this happen.

Article V of the U.S. Constitution is a method states can use to ask for amendments. A convention of two-thirds of the states is convened. The amendment then must be ratified by three-fourths of the states.

“Congress has the power to borrow whatever it wants,” he told Chris Salcedo on today's "Chris Salcedo Show," which he says is “crazy.” He added, “Congress, the debtor, is in control of its own debt limit.”

DeMoss cited Thomas Jefferson, who noticed 10 years after the Constitution was ratified that it was a mistake to give the federal government the power to borrow money.

“Our goal is to get this specific balanced budget amendment ratified into the Constitution in the next 18 months,” he said, asking the states to enter into a binding legal contract agreeing to a specific process to get a balanced budget amendment done.

DeMoss said the budget crisis is an “emergency” that can’t wait 7-10 years. Five are states on board so far, but his group needs 33 more to hit the "magic number" of 38 for ratification.

To see more from Chris, visit his channel onTheBlaze and listen live to “The Chris Salcedo Show” weekdays 3–5 p.m. ET, only on TheBlaze Radio Network.