[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]




                   PASS THE BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT

  (Mrs. NORTHUP asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mrs. NORTHUP. Mr. Speaker, I rise in this historic Chamber for the 
first time to discuss an issue that I consider infinitely important. 
Almost every Member of Congress in the last 30 years has run on the 
their pledge to balance the Federal budget, and yet what we have today 
is a Federal budget that is a $5 trillion in debt.
  Truly, promises to balance the budget have not worked in the past. I 
come from a State where we have a balanced budget in our constitution, 
and it has required the legislature every year to make those tough, 
hard decisions that have to be made each year in order not to go more 
and more in debt. That is what we need at the Federal level, so that 
the promises we make in our campaigns, the promises we make to the 
American people, will in fact become a reality.
  I want to urge the Members of this body to pass a constitutional 
amendment so that the legacy we pass on to our children rather than be 
a crushing national deficit will be a fiscally responsible Nation.

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