[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 8 (Friday, January 13, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H234]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               THE NEED FOR A BALANCED- BUDGET AMENDMENT

  (Mr. CHRISTENSEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute, and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, last week we did an amazing thing. The 
House voted to live by the same rules and laws that the rest of the 
American people have to live by. Now, we need to take the next step. We 
need to pass a balanced budget amendment and put Government under the 
same accounting system that the rest of the American people have to 
deal with. Families have to balance their checkbooks; so should the 
Government. Families plan and prepare for the future; so should the 
Government. Where I come from, families want to give their children a 
chance to have a better life than they did. They work hard and they 
plan ahead.
  They teach their children that money does not grow on trees, that you 
do not write checks unless you have money in your checking account, and 
you keep your checkbook balanced. It is time for the Federal Government 
to do the same.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to treat the Government's checkbook 
as they would their own, and join me in supporting the balanced budget 
amendment.

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