Sen. Vick a delegate to budget convention

State Sen. Steve Vick, R-Dalton Gardens, and Rep. Eric Redman, R-Athol, will join delegates from across the nation Tuesday at the Balanced Budget Amendment Planning Convention.

It will be the first national convention of the states convened since 1861, when states met to discuss an amendment they hoped would avert civil war. The Phoenix gathering is intended to prepare for an anticipated convention convened under Article V of the U.S. Constitution to propose a balanced budget amendment and to recommend a set of rules under which such a convention would be governed. The national debt is approaching $20 trillion.