[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17703]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1220
                  BREAK THE CYCLE OF RECKLESS SPENDING

  (Mr. FITZPATRICK asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. FITZPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in favor of House Joint 
Resolution 2 and sending a balanced budget amendment to the United 
States Senate and to the States. Congress has nobly, yet unexpectedly, 
tried seven times to stop the increasingly massive growth in our 
national debt. At the first attempt in 1985, with the Gramm-Rudman-
Hollings Act, our national debt was $2 trillion, or $8,700 for every 
American. Today our national debt is $15 trillion, $48,500 for every 
American, higher than it has ever been in American history. Our current 
spending environment has failed to create jobs and is threatening our 
standard of living and our national security.
  While the Founding Fathers could not foresee a nation this stricken 
with debt, they did recognize the danger to our prosperity and 
instilled a constitutional process that gives us the flexibility to 
deal with this crisis. As Thomas Jefferson said: I place economy among 
the first and most important republican virtues, and public debt as the 
greatest of dangers to be feared.
  Congress has a rare opportunity to break the cycle of reckless 
spending that has taken us to this current fiscal breaking point and 
ensure the fiscal financial stability and prosperity for our children 
and our grandchildren. I urge adoption of the resolution.

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