[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 10, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S739-S740]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. EXON:
  S.J. Res. 14. A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the 
Constitution relating to Federal Budget Procedures; to the Committee on 
the Judiciary.


       BALANCED BUDGET CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT JOINT RESOLUTION

  Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation 
proposing a constitutional amendment requiring the President to submit, 
and the Congress to enact, a balanced Federal budget.
  This is not the first time I have introduced such legislation. For 
years, I have taken a leadership role promoting passage of a balanced 
budget amendment.
  I can think of no greater priority than dealing responsibly with the 
Federal deficit. A balanced budget amendment underscores my bedrock 
beliefs in a lean and agile government and living within one's means.
  Thirty-seven States have balanced budget provisions. When I was 
Governor of Nebraska, I had no choice but to balance our State's budget 
for 8 straight years. I'm not complaining. It forced budgetary 
discipline and kept my State fiscally sound. It was the right thing to 
do.
  During last year's debate on the balanced budget amendment, I 
listened with great care and interest to the arguments that we didn't 
need it.
  The critics claimed that self-restraint and legislation could solve 
the spiralling deficits that have bedeviled us--deficits that trifle 
with the future and standard of living of our children and 
grandchildren--deficits that shackle them to a mountain of debt.
  The opponents further contended that a balanced budget amendment is 
no substitute for tough, honest, and effective leadership.
  Mr. President, one does not preclude the other. And I might point out 
that the type of leadership and courage so often extolled on the Senate 
floor is often in very short supply. There is a lot of breast beating 
about the deficit, but little will to make the difficult and hard 
decisions to bring it under control.
  Yes, we should be able to deal with deficit without a balanced budget 
amendment, but the evidence runs to the contrary. All of the statutory 
remedies have failed. They are riddled with loopholes and back doors 
which have been exploited to the fullest.
  Mr. President, we have also proven ourselves incapable of controlling 
wasteful spending. The deficit figures speak for themselves. There is 
still too much business-as-usual around here, and business-as-usual no 
longer works and will put future generations of Americans in terrible 
straits.
  True, we have made some remarkable headway in reducing the deficit. 
We turned an important corner by passing the 1993 deficit reduction 
package and it is performing beyond expectations.
  However, the deficits projections for the out-years are not 
reassuring. Right now, we are enjoying a brief respite from the storm, 
but is promises to whip back on us in 5 or 6 years. We cannot afford to 
hide our heads in the sand and hope the problem will go way. It won't.
  Let there be no mistake, a balanced budget amendment is no panacea 
and we will still have to make a lot of hard

[[Page S740]]

choices. But I see no alternative to this amendment. We are out of 
options. We need the balanced budget amendment to force responsibility 
upon the Federal Government. We need a bold approach--a new approach--
to end the dangerous habit of deficit spending.
  This amendment presents our best chance, perhaps our only chance, to 
turn back the sea of red ink that threatens to engulf us. It's the 
first step to the establishment of a sound fiscal policy and 
accountability in the U.S. Congress.
  Mr. President, it's time we stopped all the hand wringing over the 
Federal deficit. It's time we stopped dodging the issue. It's time we 
showed the courage and leadership demanded of us by the American 
people. It's time we passed a balanced budget amendment and sent it to 
the States for ratification. This is the legacy I want to leave our 
children.

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