[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 8 (Friday, January 13, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H239]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                A VIEW ON THE BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas [Ms. Jackson-Lee] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE. Mr. Speaker, the Great Depression dealt the biggest 
economic blow this Nation has ever faced. The epidemic seemed never-
ending, sweeping everything away in its path of economic destruction.
  In the election of 1932, with the economy still contracting, Franklin 
Roosevelt complained of Hoover's deficit spending and raised the issue 
of the need to balance the Federal budget. However, by the end of the 
decade, the economy was improving under the direction of President 
Roosevelt and his New Deal policies, without calling for a 
constitutional amendment. Now, in 1995, we are visiting this issue 
again. As we dialog today, though, we must reflect on the lessons 
learned from yesterday.
  As students of the economy, we know that if an economy is operating 
below its capacity to produce, the result is a cause for cyclical 
downturn. And if the Government needs to raise revenues or must spend 
less--requirements that will be unconditionally placed on this 
institution if the balanced budget amendment is passed--economic 
activity depresses further. Therefore, the efforts during the early 
1930's to balance the budget might be theoretically counted as an 
economic contributor to prolonging the depression cycle.
  This lesson rings as a reminder that there are situations which 
require economic responses other than constitutionally mandating that 
the Federal budget be balanced.
  I urge my colleagues to further dialog on this issue.
  

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