[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 5 (Monday, January 12, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S150]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petition or memorial was laid before the Senate and was 
referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-1. A resolution adopted by the Legislature of the State 
     of Louisiana urging the Congress of the United States, 
     pursuant to Article V of the United States Constitution, to 
     call a convention of the states for the sole and exclusive 
     purpose of proposing an amendment to the United States 
     Constitution that would provide for a balanced budget; to the 
     Committee on the Judiciary.

                   House Concurrent Resolution No. 70

       Whereas, the failure of the federal budget process has 
     produced an enormous federal budget deficit, and growing 
     national debt presently burdens the American people and 
     threatens to burden their descendants for generations to 
     come; and
       Whereas, the congressional practice of deficit spending and 
     repeated raising of the ceiling on the federal debt has had 
     the effect of endangering the jobs, incomes, retirement 
     security, welfare, and future of American citizens; and
       Whereas, such debt diverts scarce resources from crucial 
     programs to pay interest on the national debt, constricts the 
     ability of the federal government to address long-standing 
     national problems and to respond to new needs, and increases 
     pressures to raise taxes on the American people; and
       Whereas, Article V of the Constitution of the United States 
     provides that an amendment to the constitution may be 
     proposed by congress, or on the application of the 
     legislatures of two-thirds of the states, congress is 
     required to call a constitutional convention for the purpose 
     of proposing an amendment, which, in either case, shall 
     become part of the constitution when ratified by three-
     fourths of the several states: Now, therefore be it
       Resolved, That the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby 
     make application to the Congress of the United States to call 
     a convention pursuant to Article V of the Constitution of the 
     United States of America for the specific and exclusive 
     purpose of proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the 
     United States, for submission to the states for ratification, 
     to require that in the absence of a national emergency the 
     total of all federal outlays made by congress for any fiscal 
     year may not exceed the total of all estimated federal 
     revenues for that fiscal year, together with any related and 
     appropriate fiscal restraints; and be it further
       Resolved, That this application is to be considered as 
     covering the same subject matter as the presently outstanding 
     balanced budget applications from other states, including but 
     not limited to previously adopted applications from Alabama, 
     Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, 
     Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, 
     Nebraska, Ohio, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North 
     Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas; and that this 
     application shall be aggregated with such applications for 
     the purpose of attaining the two-thirds of states necessary 
     to require the calling of a convention but shall not be 
     aggregated with applications on any other subject; and be it 
     further
       Resolved, That certified copies of this Concurrent 
     Resolution be transmitted by the secretary of state to the 
     president and the secretary of the United States Senate, to 
     the speaker and clerk of the United States House of 
     Representatives, to each member of this state's delegation to 
     the congress, and to the presiding officer of each house of 
     each state legislature in the United States, requesting their 
     cooperation; and be it further
       Resolved, That this application by this legislature 
     supersedes all previous applications by this legislature on 
     this same subject matter and that this application 
     constitutes a continuing application in accordance with 
     Article V of the Constitution of the United States until the 
     legislatures of at least two-thirds of the several states 
     have made application for a similar convention pursuant to 
     Article V.

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