[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 33 (Tuesday, March 9, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H1176]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1415
          SUPPORT SPENDING LIMIT AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION

  (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PENCE. Madam Speaker, Federal spending is out of control, and the 
American people know it. Our Nation is facing a fiscal crisis of epic 
proportions. In the past 5 years, Federal spending has climbed from a 
historic average of 20 percent of the American economy to nearly 25 
percent today, and it is rising.
  According to the Congressional Budget Office, the first 5 months of 
this fiscal year, the Federal Government ran a deficit of $655 billion, 
keeping the country on track for a record $1.6 trillion deficit this 
year.
  After years of trying to rein in Federal spending under Republican 
and Democrat administrations, the American people want fiscal 
discipline and they want new ideas. That is why Congressmen Jeb 
Hensarling, John Campbell, and I introduced the Spending Limit 
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Under our 
amendment, absent a declaration of war or a two-thirds vote in the 
Congress, Congress would be required to adhere to its historic 
percentage of the economy.
  For the last 60 years, we have only taken 20 cents on the American 
dollar out of this economy. It is time we put that limit in the 
Constitution of the United States. If we fail to act, our children will 
be less free, less prosperous, and less secure. It is time for a 
spending limit amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

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