[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 29 (Tuesday, February 14, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S2647]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-31. A resolution adopted by the Association of Hawaiian 
     Civic Clubs relative to agriculture; to the Committee on 
     Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
       POM-32. A resolution adopted by the Legislature of the 
     State of Minnesota; to the Committee on the Judiciary.

                           ``Resolution No. 1

       ``Whereas, the 50 States, including the State of Minnesota, 
     have long been required by their state constitutions to 
     balance their state operating budgets; and
       ``Whereas, the States have long done so by making difficult 
     choices each budget session to insure that their expenditures 
     do not exceed their revenues; and
       ``Whereas, without a federal balanced budget, the deficit 
     may continue to grow within the next ten years from $150 
     billion gross domestic product (GDP) per year to $400 billion 
     GDP per year, continuing the serious negative impact on 
     interest rates, available credit for consumers, and taxpayer 
     obligations; and
       ``Whereas, the Congress of the United States, in the last 
     two years, has begun to reduce the annual federal deficit by 
     making substantial reductions in federal spending; and
       ``Whereas, achieving a balanced budget by the year 2002 
     will require continued reductions in the annual deficit, 
     averaging almost 15 percent per year over the next seven 
     years; and
       ``Whereas, it now appears that the Congress is willing to 
     impose on itself the same discipline that the States have 
     long had to follow, by passing a balanced-budget amendment to 
     the United States Constitution; and
       ``Whereas, the Congress, in working to balance the federal 
     budget, may impose on the States unfunded mandates that shift 
     to the States responsibility for carrying out programs that 
     the Congress can no longer afford; and
       ``Whereas, the States will better be able to revise their 
     own budgets if the Congress gives them fair warning of the 
     revisions Congress will be making in the federal budget; and
       ``Whereas, if the federal budget is to be brought into 
     balance by the year 2002, major reductions in the annual 
     deficit must continue without a break; and
       ``Whereas, these major reductions will be more acceptable 
     to the people if they are shown to be part of a realistic, 
     long-term plan to balance the budget; now, therefore, be it
       ``Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota, 
     That it urges the Congress of the United States to continue 
     its progress at reducing the annual federal deficit and, when 
     the Congress proposes to the States a balanced-budget 
     amendment, to accompany it with financial information on its 
     impact on the budget of the State of Minnesota for budget 
     planning purposes.
       ``Be it further resolved, That the Secretary of State of 
     Minnesota shall transmit copies of this memorial to the 
     Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of 
     Representatives, the President and Secretary of the United 
     States Senate, the presiding officers of both houses of the 
     legislature of each of the other States in the Union, and to 
     Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in Congress.''
     

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