[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 119 (Monday, August 1, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1473-E1474]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HISTORY OF A BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. JESSE L. JACKSON, JR.

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, August 1, 2011

  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, the current budget situation is 
most poignant when looking at the origins of the Balanced Budget 
Amendment and its history.
  Mr. Speaker, after listening to my colleague's across the aisle 
present the Republican Study Committee's budget this morning, I'm apt 
to wonder what it is they're studying over there. Hopefully I'll be 
able to set the record straight.

[[Page E1474]]

  As a reaction to FDR's New Deal, Republican Congressman Harold 
Knutson of Minnesota introduced the first version of the amendment in 
1936. Like many Constitutional Amendments, this resolution did not 
receive a hearing or a vote. During President Dwight D. Eisenhower's 
first term, the Judiciary Committee of a barely Democratic Senate held 
its first hearing on this amendment. It again did not receive a vote.
  After these partial defeats, BBA supporters shifted their focus to 
the states. From 1975 to 1980, 30 state legislatures passed resolutions 
calling for a constitutional convention to propose this Amendment 
directly to the states.
  The election of President Reagan and a Republican Senate in 1980, 
renewed hopes for the Balanced Budget Amendment and passage by 
Congress. While the Senate did adopt the amendment in 1982, it failed 
to garner the necessary three-fifths majority in the House. This 
failure energized conservative groups such as the National Taxpayers 
Union and the National Tax Limitation Committee to refocus on state 
action.
  In 1982 and 1983, the Alaska and Missouri legislatures passed 
resolutions supporting the BBA, bringing the total number of these 
resolutions to 32, two short of the 34 needed for a convention. 
However, a growing concern about the scope of a constitutional 
convention led some states to withdraw their resolutions, re-shifting 
focus to Congressional action.
  From 1990 to 1994, Congress would make three additional attempts to 
codify this amendment. All failed to garner the necessary three-fifths 
majority.
  However, the BBA made a comeback when it was included in Newt 
Gingrich's Contract with America. Twenty-six days after taking office, 
the newly empowered Republican majority adopted the BBA, giving 
conservatives their first Congressional win in a decade. Disappointment 
awaited in the Senate, where two separate votes fell just short of 
adoption. This failure, along with the balanced budget and the Budget 
surplus at the decade's end, sapped any remaining Congressional support 
for the BBA.
  There was renewed Republican support for the amendment in 2000 as it 
was included in party's platform. The Bush Tax Cuts, wars in 
Afghanistan and Iraq, and the massive deficit spending created by them 
eventually led Republicans to sweep the Balanced Budget Amendment black 
under the rug. By 2004, the Republican Party left any mention of a 
balanced budget out of their platform.
  Again in recent years, with the advent of the Tea Party and the 
return of extreme fiscal conservatism in the Republican party, there 
are currently twelve Balanced Budget Amendments in the House and three 
in the Senate.
  I had my staff double check that for me. 12 Balanced Budget 
Amendments in the House. They are all basically the same. Some have 
even been offered by members of my own party.
  I understand these Members' frustration, Mr. Speaker.--I've been 
trying pass my nine Amendments to the Constitution for 10 years now and 
my Amendments are based on FDR's ``2nd Bill of Rights'' which he 
proposed back in 1944. Today, 67 years later, here we are.
  Mr. Speaker, I fundamentally believe that conservatives in congress 
are pushing for this amendment, not to force a vote in congress, but to 
rally states to act.
  Mr. Speaker, we have a troubling national debt and deficit. But the 
Balanced Budget Amendment is not the solution.
  The argument proponents of Balanced Budget Amendment make is as 
follows: like families, businesses, and states, the federal government 
should balance its budget. But since it does not, we need a 
constitutional amendment to guarantee that it will do so.
  Nearly every state in this Union has some form of a balanced budget 
requirement. But those states are not out of debt. Their amendments 
have restricted their ability to care for their citizens in times of 
austerity or emergency.
  According to a Forbes analysis of the global debt crises in January 
of 2010, every single state in the country is carrying some form of 
debt. These debts range from as little as $17 per capita in Nebraska to 
$4,490 in Connecticut.
  How can this be, Mr. Speaker? It's because the infrastructure of 
these states allows them to hide debt in Capital Funds. The federal 
government cannot, and I would argue the federal government should not 
follow this path.
  Congress should never seek to hide the fiscal realities from the 
public that bear the burden of the cost. Nor should we sell the public 
magic beans that a Balanced Budget Amendment will make the national 
debt and other problems go away. Debt will exist just as new problems 
will arise.
  In the fiscal year 2012, approximately 44 states will face revenue 
shortfalls. Many are desperately looking for ways to declare their 
state bankrupt. Bankrupt, I say it again, Mr. Speaker, because this 
proposed amendment would place the federal government in a similar 
predicament. The effect in many states is calamitous.
  For instance in Rhode Island, judges and court workers have cut pay 
and left 53 positions unfilled. This is still not enough to balance 
their budget. As a desperate last resort, the Chief Justice has begun 
to dispose of cases on backlog. Literally, just tossing them out. 
Florida is in the same predicament.
  Mr. Speaker, a Balanced Budget Amendment would force the federal 
government to deny Americans the right to seek redress and justice in 
federal courts, for the sake of balancing the budget.
  In my home state of Illinois, mental-health services have been cut by 
$91 million. Human Service directors are fearful that these cuts will 
cause a real public-health and public safety crisis.
  Iowa, Idaho, Alabama and Ohio are considering drastic cuts to 
education.
  My colleagues across the aisle are so concerned about handing our 
children and grandchildren any amount of national debt, that they have 
failed to realize we are setting future generations up for failure.
  States are already cutting too many services that make the American 
workforce strong and competitive. Should the federal government do the 
same, our legacy will be an America that is uneducated and ill-equipped 
to compete on a global level.
  Mr. Speaker, as exemplified by its effects on the states, this 
amendment may sound good on its face, but it falls flat when examined 
more critically.
  Like an optical illusion whose image changes as you draw closer, the 
Balanced Budget Amendment masquerades as the savior of our budget, yet 
in reality threatens to permanently destroy it.
  According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Citizens for 
Tax Justice, and others, a federal Balanced Budget Amendment would: 
Damage our economy by making recessions deeper and more frequent; 
Heighten the risk of default and jeopardize the full faith and credit 
of the U.S. government; Lead to reductions in needed investments for 
the future; favor wealthy Americans over middle- and low-income 
Americans by making it far more difficult to raise revenues and easier 
to cut programs; And weaken the principle of majority rule.
  Therefore, passing a Balanced Budget Amendment is not a prudent path 
for the nation to follow.

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