[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 1 (Thursday, January 4, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S186-S187]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CRAIG:
  S.J. Res. 1. A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the 
Constitution of the United States relative to require a balanced budget 
and protect Social Security surpluses; to the Committee on the 
Judiciary.
  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, today I am reintroducing the balanced 
budget

[[Page S187]]

amendment to the Constitution of the United States. I, for some years, 
along with my colleagues in a bipartisan way, have spoke to this issue. 
Today, in a new year and in a new Congress, Americans are eager to see 
a new direction for our country. They have seen Federal spending 
increase by $200 billion from fiscal years 2005 to 2006. They have 
watched the Federal deficit swell into hundreds of billions of dollars, 
and they have borne the costs. Our spending system is broken and, in my 
opinion, so is our Tax Code.
  The new year is a time for new solutions to this problem. When new 
solutions that draw upon old principles of limited government and 
fiscal responsibility and tax simplicity and fairness are how you 
approach a problem, I think Americans once again will listen, and they 
will allow us to build a system that increasingly builds faith, once 
again, with the American people and America's taxpayers. It is simply 
getting back to basics. We must look at the big picture of Federal 
spending as a crisis in our country and begin to speak the language 
that is fundamental to reform in itself, not instead of half measures 
or bits or pieces or nibbling around the edges. But as both of our 
leaders have spoken in the last hour to bipartisan efforts, they speak 
of bold strokes to solving problems for America, and I think that is 
what Americans expect of us as their leaders. We must look at it simply 
and reduce the deficit--I would hope we could eliminate it--and to do 
so with a Tax Code that is fairer, more balanced, certainly simpler, 
and not so complex that the American taxpayers collectively have to 
spend billions of dollars a year simply in complying with the Tax Code 
itself.
  In the coming months, I will address all three components of the 
Federal spending crisis, including a flat tax and a budget process that 
reforms what we get done here, and that we get it done in a timely 
manner. I begin with a balanced budget amendment to the United States 
Constitution. For many Americans, one of the signs of our deep respect 
for the Constitution is to acknowledge that, in exceptional cases, a 
problem finally rises to a level that it can only be addressed through 
a constitutional adjustment in our government.
  I believe spending is at that crisis level and we here, Democrat and 
Republican, have demonstrated our inability to deal with it in a timely 
and responsible fashion. So it is time we act. My balanced budget 
amendment would require Congress to pass a balanced budget every year 
to ensure that Social Security surpluses are set aside exclusively to 
meet the future needs of beneficiaries and to require a supermajority 
in both the House and the Senate to raise the Nation's debt limit. In 
addition, it recognizes that national security is a priority of this 
Congress by providing essential exceptions for war and imminent 
military threats. In other words, over the last several years a 
balanced budget amendment would not have deterred us from funding, as 
appropriate and necessary, our engagement in Iraq and to make sure the 
men and women who are there on the front lines today are adequately 
provided with the necessary tools.
  Thomas Jefferson said it so well, and he said this:

     . . .with respect to future debt, would it not be wise and 
     just for that nation to declare in the constitution they are 
     forming that neither the legislature, nor the nation itself 
     can validly contract more debt than they may pay?

  His logic is simple. His logic is right. I urge you to join me in 
making fiscal responsibility constitutionally acceptable--and a habit--
of this Nation's Capitol.
  With the first piece of legislation I introduce to the 110th 
Congress, I call on the Senate to pass a balanced budget amendment to 
the Constitution, a bill of economic rights for our future and our 
children.
  I ask unanimous consent that a copy of this joint resolution 
proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution be printed in 
the Record.
  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of 
the joint resolution be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the joint resolution was 
ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:

                              S.J. Res. 1

       Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
     United States of America in Congress assembled, That the 
     following article is proposed as an amendment to the 
     Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to 
     all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when 
     ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several 
     States within seven years after the date of its submission by 
     the Congress:

                              ``Article--

       ``Section 1. Total outlays for any fiscal year shall not 
     exceed total receipts for that fiscal year, unless three-
     fifths of the whole number of each House of Congress shall 
     provide by law for a specific excess of outlays over receipts 
     by a rollcall vote.
       ``Section 2. Total receipts shall include all receipts of 
     the United States Government except those derived from 
     borrowing. Total outlays shall include all outlays of the 
     United States Government except for those for repayment of 
     debt principal.
       ``Section 3. Any surplus of receipts (including 
     attributable interest) over outlays of the Federal Old-Age 
     and Survivors Insurance and the Federal Disability Insurance 
     Trust Funds shall not be counted for purposes of this 
     article. Any deficit of receipts (including attributable 
     interest) relative to outlays of the Federal Old-Age and 
     Survivors Insurance and the Federal Disability Insurance 
     Trust Funds shall be counted for purposes of this article, 
     and must be completely offset by a surplus of all other 
     receipts over all other outlays.
       ``Section 4. The limit on the debt of the United States 
     held by the public shall not be increased, unless three-
     fifths of the whole number of each House shall provide by law 
     for such an increase by a rollcall vote.
       ``Section 5. Prior to each fiscal year, the President shall 
     transmit to the Congress a proposed budget for the United 
     States Government for that fiscal year, in which total 
     outlays do not exceed total receipts.
       ``Section 6. No bill to increase revenue shall become law 
     unless approved by a majority of the whole number of each 
     House by a rollcall vote.
       ``Section 7. The Congress may waive the provisions of this 
     article for any fiscal year in which a declaration of war is 
     in effect. The provisions of this article may be waived for 
     any fiscal year in which the United States is engaged in 
     military conflict which causes an imminent and serious 
     military threat to national security and is so declared by a 
     joint resolution, adopted by a majority of the whole number 
     of each House, which becomes law.
       ``Section 8. The Congress shall enforce and implement this 
     article by appropriate legislation, which may rely on 
     estimates of outlays and receipts.
       ``Section 9. This article shall take effect the second 
     fiscal year beginning after its ratification.''.

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