[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 17343-17348]
[From the U.S. 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

[[Page 17344]]

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 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

[[Page 17345]]

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 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.

[[Page 17346]]

  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 
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

[[Page 17347]]

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 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

[[Page 17348]]

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 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.

                          ____________________