[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 174 (Tuesday, November 15, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H7617-H7622]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
GOP WOMEN'S HOUR: A BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ribble). Under the Speaker's announced
policy of January 5, 2011, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Schmidt) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Mrs. SCHMIDT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Today, I really want to talk about something that I think is very
critical for this Nation. It's about how we get our spending in order.
I came from local government before I got here and then State
government before I got here. Actually, I came from a household where I
ran the checking account for my husband and myself and our family. In
all cases, I balanced things. When I made out my bills once a month, I
did what this lady is doing right here: I balanced the checkbook first
to see how much money I had in the account so I knew how much I was
spending and, more importantly, whether I was overspending, so that
next month I could ratchet back on the spending to balance things out.
When I was a township trustee, the same thing. We looked at our revenue
sheets and our income sheets at every single meeting twice a month and
balanced things out. In Ohio, like 49 other States, we have to balance
our State budget, in our case, every 2 years.
So you can imagine the surprise I had when I got to Congress and
realized we don't balance our budget at the Federal level, that we
don't balance our checkbook. I was amazed why we don't do this. Maybe
that's the reason we continue to have bloated spending that is weighing
down, not just the future that lays before us, but our children's
future and their children's future.
In 1982, Ronald Reagan said regarding a balanced budget that only a
constitutional amendment will do the job. He said, We've tried the
carrot and it failed. With the stick of a balanced budget amendment, we
can stop government's squandering, overtaxing ways and save our
economy.
Man, that was 29 years ago. I've got to repeat that because that's
kind of like where we are today.
Only a constitutional amendment will do the job. We've tried the
carrot and it failed. With the stick of a balanced budget amendment, we
can stop government's squandering, overtaxing ways and save our
economy.
Ronald Reagan was right. In fact, in 1995, under legislation that was
in the House, which was controlled by the Republicans under Newt
Gingrich, they tried to pass a balanced budget amendment. Lost it by
one vote. I believe tomorrow or the next day or sometime this week,
under the leadership of John Boehner, we're going to try this same
thing again. I just think it's imperative that we don't lose that vote.
The American people, I believe, are on the side of myself and my
female colleagues who are going to join me here this afternoon, because
the American people get the fact that we are not balancing the
checkbook. When we don't balance the checkbook, we don't know what
we're spending. If we don't know what we're spending, we don't know how
to correct our past mistakes and plan appropriately for the future.
So, in the last election in 2010, when a lot of seats were changed in
this very room, I believe it was a mandate by the citizens of our great
Nation who said, Enough is enough. Stop the spending and stop it now.
The United States is staring down the barrel of a $15 trillion
accumulation of debt. $3.7 trillion of new debt in just 2 years is more
than a figure, my colleagues--it is a wake-up call.
When President Obama took office, he said he would correct the
problem, and in 2009, he put out an $821 billion stimulus program to
stimulate the economy. Of course it cost us over $1 trillion with
interest because, you see, we didn't balance the checkbook, so we
really didn't know what that was going to cost. Guess what? It didn't
stimulate the economy. It didn't resolve unemployment.
For the last 33 months, it has been over 8 percent. In fact, for 31
of 33 months, it has been at 9 percent or higher. In October of this
year, 14 million workers were unemployed, with an additional 8.9
million working part
[[Page H7618]]
time because they couldn't find full-time work. There were 2.5 million
workers who were available for work but who had to stop actively
searching because of poor economic conditions. All told, over 16
percent of the United States workforce is now unemployed or
underemployed. I truly believe it's because we can't get our fiscal
house in order right here on Capitol Hill, and I believe the linchpin
in all that is a balanced budget amendment.
I'm going to turn right now to one of my colleagues to have her weigh
in on this, the gentlelady from the good State of Alabama.
Mrs. ROBY. I thank my friend from Ohio for yielding, and I do
appreciate the opportunity to spend time again with my GOP women
colleagues here on the floor to talk about these important issues.
With your visual here on the floor, I think you have really done a
great job of encapsulating what the issue is, which is that hardworking
American taxpayers are balancing their budgets every single day. That's
why almost 75 percent of Americans are with us on this. They want this
balanced budget amendment, and this is a bipartisan action that can be
taken in order to restore fiscal sanity. We know that every day there
are more and more Americans who are out of work and that there are more
and more Americans who have just given up looking for a job. We're not
setting a real good example here in Congress when we can't get our
fiscal house in order.
{time} 1610
I just want to point back to our jobs agenda, the 22 bills that we
have sitting over in the hands of the Senate right now that we know
will get government out of the way so that the private sector can do
what they do best, and that is create jobs. You know, there are so many
men and women, small business owners throughout this country that are
looking to us to reduce the size of government, get the job-killing
regulations out of the way. And they have capital to invest, to create
jobs, but they're not doing it because of the uncertainty associated
with what's going on right here in Washington, D.C.
Here we have a proposal before us. We have a way for us to restore
this fiscal sanity; and that is for us to balance our budget, not spend
more money than we bring in. We've talked about this before when we
were down here during the debt ceiling debate. You can't pick up the
phone and call your credit card company and say, Hey, I owe you all
this money, and I can't make my monthly payment, and I can't make the
interest payment, so can you make me another loan just so I can pay the
interest payment on the money that I already owe you? That's where this
Federal Government is right now. Now if you can't do that from your
kitchen table with the bills that you owe, why in the world should the
Federal Government be allowed to do that either?
So I would just say to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle
in both the House and the Senate, let's do this together. Let's do this
for the American people. Let's do this for all the people that are out
of work who are looking to us to lead by example and get our fiscal
house in order, just like the millions of hardworking, tax-paying
Americans do every single day.
Thank you for the opportunity again to share this hour with you.
Mrs. SCHMIDT. I thank my colleague from Alabama.
I would just like to add with all of this that I think the reason why
we have such uncertainty in the marketplace with the job creators is
because they're looking at us and are saying, You lack fiscal
discipline here on Capitol Hill.
One of my colleagues said to me, Well, why do we need a balanced
budget amendment to do this? Well, quite frankly, because it will tie
our hands and force us to do what every single American is doing across
the Nation, which is looking at their cash on hand to figure out how
much they've got and how much they can spend, balancing the checkbook
before they even attempt to pay a bill. And if you don't have it in the
form of an amendment, future legislators will be able to undo anything
we do here today or tomorrow, and that's why the amendment is critical.
It will force us to do what 49 out of 50 States already do, which is
what local governments do all across Ohio and across the Nation, which
is what families do at their kitchen table each and every month, if not
more than a month, balance the checkbook and figure out what's in
there.
I now would like to yield to my other good friend, the gentlewoman
from Kansas.
Ms. JENKINS. I thank the gentlelady for yielding, and I thank you for
your leadership on this important issue.
As a CPA who spent nearly two decades helping American families chart
their way toward fiscal responsibility, I can tell you that if you want
to get serious about getting your finances in order, then the very
first thing you have to do is balance your budget. If we want to see
our economy moving again, if we want to see the job market growing
again, if we want to ensure that we remain the most powerful and
prosperous nation on Earth, then we must balance our budget.
Yet if we've learned one thing over the past few years, it's that we
can't expect Washington to balance its books on its own. To really
force the tough spending decisions and to ensure we spend our money as
efficiently as possible, we must require that Washington balance its
budget. To put it frankly, America needs a balanced budget amendment.
We came close 16 years ago; but since then, our national debt has grown
from $4 trillion to $15 trillion. We're facing a crisis. We need a
balanced budget amendment, and we need it now.
But if you don't want to take my word for it, you can take the word
of our colleagues from across the aisle who, in the past few years,
have said things like this: ``The issue of balancing the budget is not
a conservative or liberal one, nor is it an easy one; but it is an
essential one.'' Or again, I quote a friend from across the aisle,
``I'm proud to be part of a coalition that is actively working to begin
putting our country back on secure economic footing. The balanced
budget amendment won't achieve that all by itself, but it will help
ensure that we don't repeat the mistakes that helped create our current
situation.'' And finally, again, I quote a friend from across the
aisle, ``This amendment would send a strong signal to the financial
markets, U.S. businesses, and the American people that we are serious
about stabilizing our economy for the long term.'' And what did the
Democrat leadership say about this very issue in past years? They said
they would welcome it. But what are they saying today? No. They're
whipping against it.
It is time for our friends across the aisle to put our children
before their politics. Stop fighting this landmark achievement out of
sheer partisan spite, and do the right things. We all need to support
this measure not because it's easy, but we need to show the courage
because this is what matters. So let's come together to take a stand
for fiscal responsibility, show our kids and grandkids that we cherish
their future, and pass the balanced budget amendment.
Mrs. SCHMIDT. I thank my colleague from Kansas. And I couldn't agree
with you more. The passage of a balanced budget amendment will legally
prevent us from spending more than we take in. It is the only method
guaranteed to control our spending. By controlling our spending, we
will lower the deficit, which will lower interest rates, which will
contribute to greater economic growth. The passage of a balanced budget
amendment will provide job creators with a better understanding of the
economic environment in which they can expect to do business--that's
called certainty--thereby encouraging investment and expansion. I could
go on and on.
I will now turn to my good friend from Florida because I want to hear
your thoughts on this balanced budget amendment.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. I thank the gentlelady from Ohio for yielding to
me, and I congratulate her for her leadership on this very important
fiscal issue that really permeates throughout our society and
throughout our families and throughout the entire budgetary crisis that
we find ourselves in.
I'm so pleased that for the first time in nearly 15 years the House
will be voting this week on a constitutional amendment to balance the
Federal
[[Page H7619]]
budget. As a mother and a grandmother, I have long supported this
proposal. It will ensure that we fix the burden--and that's what it is,
the burden of endless deficits that has fallen on future generations.
Unfortunately, as you know, Mrs. Schmidt, the need for this amendment
has never been greater. A constitutional amendment can set us on a path
to long-term fiscal stability and restore confidence after decades of
deficits.
Two years ago, the United States experienced its first trillion-
dollar Federal budget deficit. We thought things were bad then. Last
year, we experienced our second trillion-dollar deficit. We thought
things were bad then. This year, our annual deficit has reached over
$1.3 trillion, the third trillion-dollar-plus deficit in our Nation's
history. It took the United States over 200 years, from the presidency
of George Washington to the presidency of Bill Clinton, to amass the
amount of debt that was added since the year 2006. That is shocking.
And according to the U.S. Treasury Department, our Nation's debt
currently stands at nearly $15 trillion. Think of that astronomical
amount, $15 trillion, which amounts to--how much is that per person?
Because the figure is so large that we can't fathom, we can't really
appreciate what it is. It amounts to a $47,900 tax for every living
American. The debt has sharply increased to nearly 100 percent this
year, the highest level since World War II. These are alarming
statistics.
Growing debt increases the probability of a sudden fiscal crisis
during which investors would lose confidence and the government could
lose its ability to borrow at affordable rates. If we do nothing, the
annual deficit will grow to consume nearly one-fifth of the entire U.S.
economy, and the debt would grow to Greece-like levels of over 100
percent. I believe that just as our families and neighbors--like the
lady you show there on that poster--have had to tighten our belts
during this recession, well, then, the Federal bureaucracy must do the
same.
{time} 1620
While the budget reforms that we have passed in the House were a good
start, only a constitutional amendment can ensure that we will not
stray from the path of a balanced budget as we did 10 years ago. A
constitutional amendment will help ensure a future of stability for our
children and for our grandchildren.
So I urge all of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote in
favor of this balanced budget amendment. It's history in the making
this week, and I thank Mrs. Schmidt for her leadership and for trying
to straighten out this fiscal insanity mess that we find ourselves in.
Mrs. SCHMIDT. I thank my good friend from Florida.
As I said a moment ago, a balanced budget amendment will legally
prevent us, tie our hands from spending more than we take in. It's the
only method available to control spending in Washington, and it will
lower our interest rates which will contribute to economic growth.
This balanced budget amendment is a job creator because it puts
certainty back into the marketplace. It will remove legislative
gimmicks--you know, the kind of accounting gimmicks that say we've cut
when we really haven't--from the budgeting process because it will be
just like what this woman is doing with her checkbook, how much in, how
much is going out, are we in the black or are we in the red.
Since the passage of a balanced budget amendment, or the attempt to
pass a balanced budget amendment in 1995 by a bipartisan House and its
subsequent failure by one vote in the Senate, the national debt has
grown by $9 trillion. You know, if we just had that courageous person
in the Senate in 1995 to say yes, I dare say we wouldn't be in the
position we are in today. The passage of a balanced budget amendment
would be a key step to rebuild, restore, and regain the American
public's trust and confidence in the United States, and not just the
confidence for the Americans to have in us, but the confidence for our
creditors around the world.
This resolution does a couple of things. It prohibits outlays for a
fiscal year except for those repayment of debt principal from exceeding
total receipts for that fiscal year except those derived from borrowing
unless Congress by a three-fifths rollcall vote, none of this voice
vote, rollcall, we have to put our card in the machine and show how we
vote up on the wall, authorizes a specific excess over the outlay. So
if you have to overspend, three-fifths of us are going to have to agree
to overspending.
It requires a three-fifths rollcall vote of each Chamber to increase
the public debt limit. Again, none of these shenanigans about a voice
vote when we're all in the corners of the hallways or back home. Each
and every one of us are going to have to take our voting card and put
it in the machine and Americans are going to see how we voted right on
that screen.
It directs the President to submit a balanced budget to Congress
annually. Wouldn't that be a breath of fresh air?
It prohibits any bill to increase revenue from becoming law unless
approved by a majority of each Chamber by again a rollcall vote. That
means putting your card in the machine and having it displayed on the
wall.
It authorizes waivers of those provisions when a declaration of war
is in effect or under other specified circumstances involving military
conflict. So again, in a case of national emergency where we would be
placed in harm's way, it allows for those provisions to occur.
My fellow friends in this Chamber, it is so important that we think
about doing this and doing it this week because I do not believe we can
wait any longer. You know, the United States, as was said before, has
spent almost $15 trillion of accumulated debt, 3.7 of new debt in just
2 years. It's an alarming figure. No wonder our bond creditors are
looking at us and shaking their fingers.
Our spending driven debt crisis poses a lethal threat to our
country's economic recovery, our national security and our sovereignty
and the standard of living for future generations. And, Mr. Speaker, I
have a stake in these future generations because not only do I have a
wonderful daughter and a great son-in-law, but I have the two best
grandsons a grandmother could ever have. And I look at them and I see
such potential in their eye. And I look at them and I remember how my
ancestors came from Ellis Island with nothing but pennies in their
pockets, maybe not even pennies, how my own father started with nothing
and worked and worked and worked to put food on the table and give us
the promise for a better future. How me, from an ordinary beginning,
born and raised on a farm, could end up serving in the U.S. Congress.
All of that is the fabric of the American dream. All of that is the
potential that we can be and we should be, and I see it being
threatened by our overspending.
Mr. Speaker, about 10 days ago I took the Staten Island ferry to
Staten Island. You know me, I'm a runner. I was doing my 90th-whatever
marathon it was. My friend, my cousin, said let's take the ferry and we
did. It reminded me of the critical juncture we are in in our Nation.
On the way down in the cab, where you catch the ferry is real close
to the World Trade Center. My daughter lived in New York during the
time of the attack on the World Trade Center. I had just taken her to
the Windows of the World for dinner just 3 weeks before those towers
came crashing down. So I said to the cab driver: Would you mind driving
me around, I want to see what the new building looks like. You know, I
saw the rebirth of the brick and mortar of that emblem in New York.
And then I got on the boat, on the ferry. The sun was coming up and
it was dancing across the water, and I saw Ellis Island. I thought:
Wow, my ancestors came through there; my own grandfather with nothing
came through there and ended up in Cincinnati. And then I saw the
Statue of Liberty. I thought: Oh, my gosh; that's the beacon of hope.
That is where people from across the globe want to come to America
because they know they have the chance to be the best person they can
be. They have the choice and the chance and the opportunity to be what
they want to be, to chart their own destiny. And there are so few
places around the world that give them that choice.
And then we landed, got to the bridge, the Verrazano Bridge, where we
[[Page H7620]]
start the marathon. Because I was in the second wave, we started with
``America the Beautiful'' and then they sang ``New York, New York,''
you know, the Frank Sinatra song. Actually, it wasn't ``America the
Beautiful,'' it was ``God Bless America,'' but I digress. And I started
to cry. And it wasn't just soft tears, these were tears running down my
face and I cried because I realized we are at a crossroad. We could
lose all of this. All of this could be lost because we're allowing
ourselves to become obese with debt. Let me repeat that, obese with
debt.
You know, our First Lady likes to talk about obesity in America. And
yes, it's a problem, but we have become obese with debt and we have no
road map to get out of it. The road map to get out of it is a balanced
budget amendment because it says you can't spend more than you take in.
You can't do it. And oh, if you decide in this Chamber to do it, we're
going to see how you vote. And it's not just going to be 51 percent, or
50 plus one, it's going to be three-fifths of everybody in this
Chamber. And we're going to have to show America how we voted right
there on that wall. So if you're going to overspend, you better dog on
well have a good reason to do it.
Again, let me repeat what this measure does. It requires the Congress
not to spend more than it receives in revenues unless a supermajority,
three-fifths vote and a rollcall vote to provide otherwise.
It requires a corresponding three-fifths vote to raise that debt
ceiling; again, a rollcall vote.
It requires the President to submit a balanced budget to this
auspicious body. It requires him to do that--him or her.
{time} 1630
It requires a majority rollcall vote for any proposed bill to
increase taxes. So if we want to do this by increasing taxes, you've
got to have three-fifths to do that. It also provides for a limited
exemption in times of war and serious military conflict. So it protects
us in case we have a national strike against us. And it would take
effect beginning the fifth fiscal year after the ratification by the
States, because my friends, the problem is our national debt crisis.
I would now like to turn to my good friend from North Carolina.
Mrs. ELLMERS. I thank my good friend from Ohio. Thank you for holding
this Special Order. The American people are ready for solutions, as you
know. We are working so hard here in the House on coming up with those
solutions. We will be voting on a balanced budget amendment--and I'm
very excited about that--as has been required by the Budget Control Act
that we passed in August.
I'm here now as one of those new freshmen. And it is amazing to me
and, of course, we all know that for over 200 years we've functioned
without the Federal Government having to be held to--
Mrs. SCHMIDT. May I ask a question? When you do your bills, do you do
what this lady is doing and balance your checkbook first? What would
happen if you didn't do that?
Mrs. ELLMERS. Absolutely. All of our homes, we all live by budgets.
The American people have had to redo their budgets over and over and
over again. Why? Because of the economy that we're in today, because of
the cost. And yet the Federal Government does not do this. Now we are
up to what, 930 days that the Senate has not passed a budget? We passed
our budget. We passed a budget in the House. The President had a
budget. But his budget called for over $1 trillion more of spending
that we were not taking in.
Mrs. SCHMIDT. So it didn't balance, did it?
Mrs. ELLMERS. It didn't balance, and it didn't pass in the Senate.
Ours did not come up for a vote. So Washington continues to function
without a budget. And yet, again, our households function with a
budget. Mothers and fathers are up at 3 o'clock in the morning worrying
about how they're going to pay the bills this month, and yet the
Federal Government just says, it doesn't matter. We can just continue
to spend money. As long as we don't have a budget, we can spend as much
we want.
That is the problem. And the American people are tired of this. They
are tired of us just with our open checkbook writing, having to raise
the debt ceiling to take care of the bills that have already been
submitted and the interest that we have to pay.
The balanced budget amendment that we're talking about passing passed
the House in 1995, went on to the Senate, missed passing by one vote.
Where would we be today in our economy if that had passed back then?
The Federal Government would have been held to a vote, they would have
been held to a budget, and we wouldn't be deciding these things. We
wouldn't be having to pass continuing resolutions that the American
people look to us in Washington and say, where is the leadership? How
can it possibly be that that's the way they're functioning? And yet
this is what we have to do to keep Washington running because
Washington does have a purpose. We have to provide for the national
defense, we have to take care of our seniors, and we have to take care
of those individuals who cannot take care of themselves. And yet,
without a budget, we have no way of deciding how much that will be. And
so we continue on.
This version makes it harder to raise taxes. This version is
substantial. The balanced budget amendment says that in order to raise
the debt ceiling, the future Congress will have to have a three-fifths
majority to vote in each Chamber in order to raise the debt ceiling.
That will become even more difficult.
This is what the American people are calling for us to do. They're
crying out for leadership. If we pass this balanced budget amendment in
the House and it goes on to the Senate and passes there as well, then
it will move on to the States for ratification. This will be historic.
We will now be saying to the Federal Government, you must adhere to a
budget. It's as simple as that. The most basic function of any
household and of any business is to have a working budget in place, and
yet the Federal Government, in its arrogance, says, no, we do not.
Therefore, we are stuck in this situation that we, as you know, are
dealing with every day, trying to figure out how we're going to pay for
the things that we have that the American people need.
Under President Obama, the national debt has increased 34 percent.
Clearly, it is time to stop. Clearly, the American people are saying to
us, come up with a solution. We're dealing every day here in Washington
with trying to make it through, trying to build a foundation for the
future. This balanced budget amendment will be a tool that we can use
so that our children and our grandchildren will know prosperity, and we
will ensure it. It's time to get it done.
Thank you so much for letting me speak on this issue.
Mrs. SCHMIDT. I thank you for your attention in this matter, and
you're absolutely right. We've got to get control of the spending and
get control of it now.
It reminds me of when you're trying to go on a diet. And so if I'm
trying to go on a diet back home--believe it or not, every once in a
while I have to watch what I eat--I don't sit there and have every
candy bar in the world out in front of me and open them up. That only
entices me to want to eat it. So if I'm going to go on a diet, I don't
buy the candy. I buy an apple, I buy bananas, I buy something that is
filling and good for me. But I certainly don't tempt myself with
something that I know is only going to be wasted calories and put on
weight. And yet, we don't do that here at the Federal level. We say,
well, it's okay, we'll cut spending tomorrow, but we'll spend today. If
we had a balanced budget amendment, we couldn't have that attitude.
We'd have to look at every single dime that is in our checking account
and account for it before we built a new program.
Look at how many attempts there are for new programs, small and
large, right here in this body. You've been here 11 months. How many
programs and ideas have come before you and you've had to say, can we
afford it? But here we don't have to answer that question. We have the
freedom to do it. We may not be able to afford it, but I'm not
balancing the checkbook, so we don't know. It doesn't matter. It's
okay.
No, it's not. We have to force ourselves to do what's right for
America, and not just here in 2011, but in 2111
[[Page H7621]]
and 2211 and beyond. Our protection, the only protection that we have
is with a balanced budget amendment because it ties our hands to future
spending. It forces us to balance that checkbook and do what's right
for America.
As we are looking at this, we know that the American public is with
us on this. Ninety-five percent of Americans believe that the deficit
problem is what's ruining our Nation, and almost 75 percent of those
that recognize that the problem is the debt and the deficit, almost 75
percent say a balanced budget amendment is the right tool to make the
answer. Stop the spending.
I turn now to my good friend from the State of Washington.
{time} 1640
Mrs. McMORRIS RODGERS. Thank you so much, to my good friend from the
State of Ohio, for organizing this Special Order this evening focused
on the balanced budget amendment and having the Republican women come
together to the talk about the importance of the balanced budget
amendment.
We stand together tonight from all across this country as
businesswomen, teachers, doctors, farmers, mothers, educators, nurses,
and attorneys committed to restoring America's prosperity, committed to
getting our fiscal house in order, committed to stopping wasteful
spending, and committed to putting Americans back to work. And that's
why we stand together united in support of the balanced budget
amendment.
As a mom of two young children, I am greatly concerned about the
growth of government spending and the government debt. I believe it
hurts our economy today and threatens our children tomorrow.
James Madison said that the trickiest question the Constitutional
Convention confronted was how to oblige a government to control itself.
History records not a single example of a nation that spent, borrowed,
and taxed its way to prosperity, but it offers us many, many examples
of nations that spent and borrowed and taxed their way to economic ruin
and bankruptcy. And history is screaming this warning to us, that
nations that bankrupt themselves aren't around very long, because
before you can provide for the common defense and promote the general
welfare and secure the blessings of liberty, you have to be able to pay
for it.
Not long after the Constitutional Convention, Thomas Jefferson said,
if he could make one change to the Constitution, it would have been to
limit the Federal Government's ability to borrow money. Ronald Reagan
said there were two things he wished he would have accomplished while
in office, and that was a line-item veto and a balanced budget
amendment. As has been mentioned, we came one vote short in 1995. And I
can't help but think what a different world we would be in today, both
economically and as it relates to national security, if we had that
balanced budget amendment in place.
Forty-nine States already have a balanced budget amendment. Seventy-
four percent of Americans are demanding it. The House Republican women
will join together in strong support of a constitutional amendment that
will forever change the way Washington spends money. This is our time,
this is our moment, and we must seize it.
Thank you again for yielding me some time.
Mrs. SCHMIDT. And I thank you, my good friend, for that eloquent view
and argument for the balanced budget amendment because we are at a
crisis, we are at a threshold, we are at a fork in the road in our
country. And if we don't get this spending under control, your children
and my grandchildren--they're about the same age--are going to have a
really tough time charting their own destiny.
This is America. This is the place where streets are ``paved in
gold,'' and it's the gold of sweat from the Americans before us, the
Americans that are here with us now, and the Americans of our future.
But if we don't stop the unbridled spending in Washington, our future
is not going to be able to continue to pave the way with gold.
This spending has to stop. To say we'll do it tomorrow is not enough.
We have to force ourselves into fiscal discipline. And the only way to
do that, the only legal way to bind us is through a constitutional
amendment, because the Constitution says one legislative session can't
bind a future legislative session with anything unless it is written in
the Constitution. That means what? A balanced budget amendment. If
we're going to control the spending, we have to have the balanced
budget amendment.
I think we're going to take this historic vote on Thursday or Friday.
This is not a partisan vote. This is what is right for our future.
Three-quarters of Americans get it. That woman that balanced her
checkbook on this picture gets it. My family that's back home, my
brothers and sister and nieces and nephews that are probably balancing
their own checkbooks sometime this week, they get it. The local
government that I used to represent, they have to do it, they get it.
The State legislature that I came from, they just balanced theirs on
June 30 of this year, they get it. I think it's insane that we don't do
the same thing.
Mr. Speaker, this week we're going to do something that is right for
America. It's not a partisan thing. It's not a bipartisan thing. It is
an American thing. It is what will preserve for us the American Dream,
not just for our children, but their children and their children. It
will promote economic security and national security. It will say to
the world we're ready to stand as a nation with a firm financial
foundation. It has to happen with a balanced budget amendment.
I yield to my good friend, if you have anything to add.
Mrs. McMORRIS RODGERS. You said it well. This is an issue that
Americans get. All across this country, families have been making very
tough decisions. Small business owners, local governments, States have
had to make very difficult decisions because they don't have the luxury
that the Federal Government does to either continue to borrow or print
money to cover everything that we want to spend money on.
Mrs. SCHMIDT. You know, you're right. If I could go back a little
bit, the local government that I represent, they have to ratchet back
their revenue spending because their revenues are not what they used to
be. The State that I represent, Ohio, they've had to ratchet back on
their spending because guess what they have to do? They have to balance
their budget. They can't go in the red.
Mrs. McMORRIS RODGERS. I don't pretend for a moment that the balanced
budget amendment will solve all our problems, but I do believe that it
will force Congress to start living within its means, start setting
priorities, start having that debate over what is the appropriate role
of the Federal Government? How can services be better delivered? What
can we send back to the States? That's the debate that we need. That's
the debate that the balanced budget amendment will force.
We came one vote short in 1997. It included Joe Biden's vote. He
voted for the balanced budget amendment in the Senate because it was
what the people wanted, and he felt it was important to be on the side
of the people. And that's why we need to just continue to elevate this
issue, make sure that Americans are calling their Members of Congress,
their Senators and asking for this vote on the balanced budget
amendment. This is one of the most important votes that we will take
during our time in Congress, and this is one that we need to make sure
that we pass.
Mrs. SCHMIDT. I thank you, and I thank you for your time because I
know you've got a busy schedule and you've got those two adorable
children that you want to throw some love to. And the best love that we
can give to our children and our grandchildren is the balanced budget
amendment.
Ronald Reagan was right in so many ways, but he was right in 1982
when he said, if we are going to resolve our overspending, it has to be
through a balanced budget amendment. My good colleagues, 29 years
later, we've got to hear his words and act on them because, if we
don't, 29 years from now, I'm not sure if we will be the greatest
nation that we are today.
My good friends across the aisle want to talk about how we create
jobs, and we do need to create jobs. Our President, as I said earlier,
had this stimulus bill that he thought was going to create jobs, and it
didn't create any jobs. And then just a few months ago
[[Page H7622]]
he rolled out a new jobs bill of a half trillion dollars that he
thought was going to create jobs, but I just don't think that it's
going to create jobs either. It's just going to add to our national
debt. And the reason why he can do all of these things is because he
doesn't have to do what this lady does each and every day, and that's
to balance the checkbook. Americans want a checkbook that's balanced.
I would like to show another visual. I'd like to talk about what a
few other people said in addition to Ronald Reagan.
Ben Franklin: ``Creditors have better memories than debtors.''
George Washington: ``As a very important source of strength and
security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use
it as sparingly as possible.''
{time} 1650
Oh, my good friends in the House, if we had only utilized his words,
to use it sparingly as possible.
Both sides have been part of the problem. This is not a Republican or
a Democrat sin. This is a sin from past Congresses. This is a sin we
can rectify.
Thomas Jefferson: ``The principle of spending money to be paid by
posterity under the name of funding is but swindling futurity on a
large scale.'' The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity
under the name of funding is but swindling futurity on a large scale.
He was saying you can't spend your way out of debt. You can't spend
today, put the burden on your children of tomorrow and expect a healthy
economy. No Nation has ever been successful in doing that. We in
America will not be successful in doing that, and that's why we have to
have the balanced budget amendment.
My good friends in the House, this week is a very important week for
America. We need to pass the balanced budget amendment.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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