[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 11, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H184]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THE BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT

  (Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his reamrks.)
  Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, this January, as we work for 
and with America, we will vote to put responsibility, accountability, 
and respectability back in the Congress by finally passing a balanced 
budget amendment.
  Many on the Democrat side want us to specify budget cuts before they 
agree to it. I think they are just using this as an opportunity to 
invite their good friends, the special interests, to come in and save 
their favorite projects from elimination.
  As we have seen in the past 40 years, we can debate all day about how 
to balance the budget and never actually do it.
  We need to set the record straight. The balanced budget amendment is 
about discipline. We need a mechanism that forces the Congress to 
balance it every year.
  For 40 years we tried it the other way. All we got was more spending 
and more taxes. Now it is time for Congress to live like everyone else 
in America, on a budget.


                          ____________________