[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 13 (Wednesday, January 31, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S927-S928]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SHELBY:
  S.J. Res. 3. A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the 
Constitution of the United States which requires (except during time of 
war and subject to suspension by the Congress) that the total amount of 
money expended by the United States during any fiscal year not exceed 
the amount of certain revenue received by the United States during such 
fiscal year and not exceed 20 per centum of the gross national product 
of the United States during the previous calender year; to the 
Committee on the Judiciary.


                            budget amendment

  Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a balanced 
budget

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amendment to the Constitution. This is the same amendment which I have 
introduced in every Congress since the 97th Congress. Throughout my 
entire tenure in Congress, during the good economic times and the bad, 
I have devoted much time and attention to this idea because I believe 
that the most significant thing that the Federal Government can do to 
enhance the lives of all Americans and future generation is to ensure 
that we have a balanced Federal budget.
  Our Founding Fathers, wise men indeed, had great concerns regarding 
the capability of those in government to operate within budgetary 
constraints. Alexander Hamilton once wrote that ``* * * there is a 
general propensity in those who govern, founded in the constitution of 
man, to shift the burden from the present to a future day.'' Thomas 
Jefferson commented on the moral significance of this ``shifting of the 
burden from the present to the future.'' He said: ``the question 
whether one generation has the right to bind another by the deficit it 
imposes is a question of such consequence as to place it among the 
fundamental principles of government. We should consider ourselves 
unauthorized to saddle posterity with our debts and morally bound to 
pay them ourselves.''
  I completely agree with these sentiments. History has shown that 
Hamilton was correct. Those who govern have in fact saddled future 
generations with the responsibility of paying for their debts. For a 
large part of the past 30 years, annual deficits became routine and the 
federal government built up massive debt. Furthermore, I believe that 
Jefferson's assessment of the significance of this is also correct: 
intergenerational debt shifting is morally wrong.
  Some may find it strange that I am talking about the problems of 
budget deficits and the need for a balanced budget amendment at a time 
when the budget is actually in balance. However, I raise this issue 
now, as I have time and time again in the past, because of the seminal 
importance involved in establishing a permanent mechanism to ensure 
that our annual federal budget is always balanced. Without such an 
amendment there is a no guarantee that the budget will remain balanced.
  A permanently balanced budget would have a considerable impact in the 
everyday lives of the American people. A balanced budget would 
dramatically lower interest rates thereby saving money for anyone with 
a home mortgage, a student loan, a car loan, credit card debt, or any 
other interest rate sensitive payment responsibility. Simply by 
balancing its books, the Federal Government would put real money into 
the hands of hard working people. In all practical sense, the effect of 
such fiscal responsibility on the part of the government would be the 
same as a significant tax cut for the American people. Moreover, if the 
government demand for capital is reduced, more money would be available 
for private sector use, which in turn, would generate substantial 
economic growth and create thousands of new jobs. More money in the 
pockets of Americans, more job creation by the economy, a simple step 
could make this reality-a balanced budget amendment. Furthermore, a 
balanced budget amendment would also provide the discipline to keep us 
on the course towards reducing our massive national debt.
  Currently, the Federal Government pays hundreds of billions of 
dollars in interest payments on the debt each year. This means we spend 
billions of dollars each year on exactly, nothing. At the end of the 
year we have nothing of substance to show for these expenditures. These 
expenditures do not provide better educations for our children, they do 
not make our Nation safer, they do not further important medical 
research, they do not build new roads. They do nothing but pay the 
obligations created by the fiscal irresponsibility of those who came 
earlier. In the end, we need to ensure that we continue on the road to 
a balanced budget so that we can end the wasteful practice of making 
interest payments on the deficit.
  However, opponents of a balanced budget amendment act like it is 
something extraordinary. In reality, a balanced budget amendment will 
only require the government to do what every American already has to 
do: balance their checkbook. It is simply a promise to the American 
people, and more importantly, to future generations of Americans, that 
the government will act responsibility.
  Thankfully the budget is currently balanced. However, there are no 
guarantees that it will stay as such. We could see dramatic changes in 
economic conditions. The drain on the government caused by the 
retirement of the Baby Boomers may exceed expectations. Future leaders 
may fall pray to the ``general propensity * * * to shift the burden'' 
that Alexander Hamilton wrote about so long ago. We need to establish 
guarantees for future generations. The balanced budget amendment is the 
best such mechanism available.

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