[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18687]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            PASS A BALANCED BUDGET CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

  (Mr. BUCHANAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. BUCHANAN. Mr. Speaker, as our national debt climbs to $14 
trillion, on its way to $20 trillion, I commend the President for 
taking on this new Debt Commission. But the bottom line is for the last 
50 years, we've balanced the budget five times out of 50. If you look 
at 49 out of 50 Governors, they have to balance the budget. If I look 
at what happens in Florida, they had a $70 billion budget 4 years ago. 
They've got a $60 billion budget today. But they have to balance their 
budget. They've got to make the tough choices.
  That's why my first week here I introduced a constitutional balanced 
budget amendment that says simply, we don't spend more than we take in. 
Small businesses, families, they've got to make the tough choices every 
day. We don't need to. Why? Because we have the capacity to borrow. 
That's got to change. Otherwise, we're going to bankrupt America.
  We need a constitutional balanced budget amendment today.

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