Balanced Budget Now!
Balanced Budget Now!(BBN), (officially registered with the IRS as Center for State-Led National Debt Solutions) is a 501(c)(3) Washington D.C.-based organization "to educate state legislators, members of Congress and the general public regarding the dire state of our nation’s finances, and potential solutions which include a Balanced Budget Amendment proposed by Congress or the states via convention."[1] Former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker served as BBN's "National Honorary Chair" while Loren Enns is BBN's President "as well as prime content expert and educational field operative for the balanced budget amendment (BBA) campaign." Many former Republican politicians and conservative activists additionally serve in positions of BBN leadership.
Enns quit his job as a software engineer as he "grew alarmed about the debt over the years." According to the Washington Post, 2015 was when Enns decided to "focus full-time" on BBN.[2]
According to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, the amendment BBN promoted is "an idiotic one." Backed by corporate interest such as the Koch brothers, the plan BBN advocated for would mean "there would be less money for government regulation, so that corporations could pollute our environment with impunity, and break the labor laws with impunity, and engage in financial fraud with impunity" according to Matthew Rothschild.[3] Robert Greenstein, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, penned an article in the Washington Post titled "a constitutional convention could be the single most dangerous way to ‘fix’ American government" arguing that the push for a Constitutional Convention is by "well-organized, arch-conservative group" is "dangerous, unknown territory."[4] Antonin Scalia opposed the idea on the grounds that "there would be nothing to stop a constitutional convention, once it convened, from taking up issues far beyond its original mandate, and tiny states like Vermont or Wyoming would be on equal footing with megastates like California and Texas," according to the Washington Post.[2]
Contents
Governors Debt Council Project
BBN's Governors Debt Council project is a group of current and former governors who "have pledged to use their position and voice to help achieve the adoption of a Balanced Budget Amendment in order to return America to a fiscally sustainable path."[5]
As of January 2025, the following are listed as members of the council:
Current Governors
- Gov. Doug Burgum (R-SD)
- Gov. Spencer Cox (R-UT)
- Gov. Eric Holcomb (R-IN)
- Gov. Brad Little (R-ID)
- Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN)
- Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD)
- Gov. Jim Pillen (R-NE)
- Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK)
- Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH)
Former Governors
- Former Governor & U.S. Senator George Allen (R-VA)
- Former Governor Doug Ducey (R-AZ)
- Former Ambassador & Governor Terry Branstad (R-IA)
- Former Governor & U.S. Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH)
- Former Governor Gary Herbert (R-UT)
- Former Governor & Congressman Asa Hutchinson (R-AR)
- Former Governor & U.S. Secretary of HHS Mike Leavitt (R-UT)
- Former Governor and U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV)
- Former Governor & U.S. Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Former Governor & U.S. Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry (R-TX)
Other Names
The Committee for a Fiscal Responsibility Amendment (known as the Balanced Budget Amendment Foundation) previously was listed as an educational effort of Center for State-Led National Debt Solutions (CSNDS). Balanced Budget Amendment Inc was listed as a "sister organization" of CSNDS.[6] However, according to the State Legislator's Article V Caucus CSNDS is simply another name for the the BBA Foundation.[7]
According to the New American, CSNDS is the new name of the BBA Foundation, and "while it is theoretically a distinct organization from the Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force (BBA Task Force), [BBA Foundation/CSNDS] President Loren Enns is the BBA Task Force campaigns director and four BBA co-founders sit on the BBA Foundation [CSNDS] boards of directors and advisors."[8]
Scott Walker Consulted for $189K
According to CSNDS's 2019 IRS filing, the Walker Group received $189,032 for "consulting services."[9]
Target States
As of May 2021, CSNDS lists following states as part of "a 10-state educational initiative to (1) refocus attention on the problem and (2) inform state legislators of the constitutional options they have to solve it":[10]
- Connecticut
- Idaho
- Kentucky
- Maine
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Montana
- South Carolina
- Virginia
- Washington
Funding
The Center For State-Led National Debt Solutions is not required to disclose its funders but major foundation supporters can be found through their IRS filings. Here are some known contributors:
- Charles R And Nancy L Charitable Foundation: $5,000 (2020)
- Easter Foundation: $10,000 (2019)
- Jewish Community Foundation Of Southern Arizona: $50,000 (2023)
- Meritage Cares Foundation: (2023)
- National Philanthropic Trust: $250,000 (2019)
- National Christian Charitable Foundation: $35,000 (2019; 2023)
- Starr Foundation: $25,000 (2019)
Core Financials
2023[11]
- Total Revenue: $354,250
- Total Expenses: $171,369
- Net Assets: $169,676
2022[12]
- Total Revenue: $59,415
- Total Expenses: $70,470
- Net Assets: -$13,205
2021[13]
- Total Revenue: $95,370
- Total Expenses: $95,705
- Net Assets: -$2,150
2020[14]
- Total Revenue: $135,775
- Total Expenses: $218,686
- Net Assets: -$1,815
2019[9]
- Total Revenue: $603,286
- Total Expenses: $477,192
- Net Assets: $81,096
2018[15]
- Total Revenue: $28,300
- Total Expenses: $91,664
- Net Assets: -$44,998
2017[16]
- Total Revenue: $89,994
- Total Expenses: $119,129
- Net Assets: $18,366
Personnel
As of January 2025:[17]
Leadership
- Loren Enns - President
Former Leadership
- Scott Walker- National Honorary Chair
Board of Directors
- Former Governor of Virginia George Allen
- Chad Connelly
- Loren Enns, President
- Robert Frank, Treasurer
- Former U.S. Senator Judd Gregg
- Former Governor Gary Herbert
- Former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee
- Former Governor Butch Otter
- Constantin Querard
- Former Governor Ed Schafer
- Karrin Taylor Robson, President and CEO of Arizona Strategies
- Hon. Greg S. Casey, Sr.
- Former Governor Scott Walker, Former Hon. Chair
Former Directors
- Former U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV
- Retired Adm. William Owens
- Former Governor of North Dakota Ed Schafer
- President and founder of the National Tax Limitation Committee Lewis K. Uhler
- Steve Moore
- Former member of the Oklahoma House Gary Banz
- Former U.S. Senator Norm Coleman
- Robert Frank, Treasurer
- Professor Barry Poulson
- Former U.S. Comp. Gen. Dave Walker
Board of Advisors
- Former U.S. Senator Norm Coleman
- Former Amb. Mick Mulvaney
Former Advisors
- Adm. William Owens (Ret)
- Karrin Taylor Robson, president and CEO of Arizona Strategies
- Former U.S. Comp. Gen. Dave Walker
- Former Senator Ben Campbell
- Former Gov. Tommy Thompson
- Former Amb. R. James Woosley
- Hon. John Knubel
Executive Committee (No longer listed on website as of May 2021)
- Loren Enns - President of the Board
- David Guldenschuh - Executive Director
- Hon. Greg S. Casey, Sr.
Fiscal Rules Working Group(No longer listed on website as of January 2025)[18]
- Judd Gregg: Former Senator from NH (1993-2011) and member of the Simpson Bowles commission.
- David M. Walker: Former Comptroller General of the US, former CEO of the Government Accountability Office, former CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, and Founder and CEO of the Comeback America Initiative.
- Barry Poulson: Professor of Economics at the University of Colorado.
Contact Information
Balanced Budget Now!
1747 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Suite 1000
Washington, DC 20006
Website: https://balancedbudgetnow.com
Email: info@csnds.org
Federal tax identification number: 20-3302521
Articles and Resources
IRS Form 990 Filings
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
References
- ↑ CSDNS home organizational website, accessed May 2, 2019
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 James Hohman The Daily 202: Scott Walker plans to crusade for a balanced-budget amendment via constitutional convention The Washington Post March 19, 2019
- ↑ Matthew Rothschild Scott Walker’s New Idiotic Job Wisconsin Democracy Campaign March 19, 2019
- ↑ Robert Greenstein [1] The Washington Post Oct 21, 2014
- ↑ Balanced Budget Now!, Governors Debt Council, Balanced Budget Now!, accessed January 2025.
- ↑ CSDNS Donate to Assist Our Educational Efforts Cached version of an organizational website, accessed May 2, 2019
- ↑ Article V Caucus September Newletter accessed May 3, 2019
- ↑ C. Mitchell Shaw Who’s Behind a Constitutional Convention? The New American Aug 29, 2019
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Center for State-Led National Debt Solutions, 2019 IRS Form 990, organizational filing, November 9, 2020.
- ↑ CSNDS, State Legislators, CSNDS, accessed May 2021.
- ↑ Center for State-Led National Debt Solutions, 2023 IRS Form 990, organizational filing, November 11, 2024.
- ↑ Center for State-Led National Debt Solutions, 2022 IRS Form 990, organizational filing, May 15, 2024.
- ↑ Center for State-Led National Debt Solutions, 2021 IRS Form 990, organizational filing, May 10, 2022.
- ↑ Center for State-Led National Debt Solutions, 2020 IRS Form 990, organizational filing, November 9, 2021.
- ↑ Center for State-Led National Debt Solutions, 2018 IRS Form 990, organizational filing, May 6, 2019.
- ↑ Center for State-Led National Debt Solutions, 2017 IRS Form 990, organizational filing, May 6, 2019.
- ↑ CSNDS, Leadership, CSNDS, accessed January 2025.
- ↑ CSNDS Fiscal Rules Working Group organizational website, Accessed May 13, 2019