[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 14 (Thursday, February 6, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H352]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    SUPPORT A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO REQUIRE A BALANCED BUDGET

  (Mr. SNOWBARGER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SNOWBARGER. Mr. Speaker, I would like to express my strong 
support today for a constitutional amendment to require a balanced 
budget and address some concerns that have been raised.
  Opponents say that this amendment would restrict the Government's 
flexibility. Well, of course it would. The whole purpose of having a 
Constitution is to restrict the Government from doing things that may 
be easy today but harmful tomorrow.
  Our national debt is the single greatest threat to Social Security. A 
bankrupt Federal Government cannot send out any checks. The best way to 
ensure Social Security will be here tomorrow is to balance the budget 
today.
  It is also said that the Congress can and should balance the budget 
without an amendment. Of course it should. But by this logic we do not 
need the Bill of Rights to protect our most basic liberties.
  I believe that this Congress can and will get the budget moving 
toward balance, but a constitutional amendment is necessary to prevent 
future Congresses from returning to the borrow-and-spend addictions of 
the past. Spending our children's money is far too easy. The temptation 
to make the easy, but wrong, decision must be removed.
  Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support a balanced budget 
amendment.

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