[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2231-2232]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT

  Mr. COATS. Mr. President, I rise today to address what I call an 
issue of

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public responsibility. More specifically, I rise to address the 
responsibility of both the legislative and the executive branches to 
deal with our Nation's out of control deficit spending. Unfortunately, 
the President has shown little interest in the dire fiscal situation 
facing our Nation, which makes it all the more important for Congress 
to do so. Without Presidential leadership, it is now Congress's duty to 
step up and take the lead.
  We have an obligation to be straightforward and honest with the 
American people about the financial challenges America faces. There was 
a furor over our continuing plunge into debt and deficit starting in 
2009 and 2010 as we saw the spending explode with stimulus plans that 
didn't work and other policies that continued to drive us into debt. 
Unfortunately, that level of intensity and displeasure over all that 
was happening has subsided, but the problem hasn't gone away. It needs 
to be addressed, and it needs to be addressed now.
  As I said, we have an obligation as Members of this body and of the 
Congress to be honest and straightforward with the American people 
about where we stand and what we will do about it.
  I received a letter from one of my constituents, Steven of 
Martinsville, Indiana. Steven wrote to me to describe his concerns 
about our national debt and spending. Let me quote from his letter:

       As of today, the outstanding national debt is over $18 
     trillion. That is an overly exorbitant amount of money.

  It certainly is, Steven. You are right. It is an exorbitant amount of 
money--one we can hardly even get our minds around in terms of what $18 
trillion means.
  Steven continued:

       Therefore, I would like to know our options in America.

  I think we as elected officials have an obligation to list those 
options and describe what we would do about it if we had the 
opportunity and the support from the President, which is not 
forthcoming, but perhaps it will be. Surely even the executive branch 
and the President have to understand the situation we are in and the 
consequences of not doing something about it.
  I am sure my colleagues received many letters and information from 
constituents who are concerned about the health of our Nation, from our 
mounting Federal debt, to our management--or I suppose I could say 
mismanagement of the Federal budget. Our constituents want to know what 
we, as their elected officials, are going to do about it.
  What is plain as day to Steven, unfortunately, is not so clear here 
in Washington because the President says we don't have a spending 
problem, we have a revenue problem. I can't go home to people in 
Indiana and tell them that we need to tax more because government is 
growing and needs their money, and do so without derision coming back 
my way because people are being taxed to death. This President has an 
obsession with solving every conceivable problem by asking for more 
revenue and more taxes. The revenue is increasing; yet we have not 
placed the necessary spending restraints to control this ever-growing 
dilemma of deficit spending.
  I think there is only one real solution to our problem--a solution 
that is absolutely necessary because we literally have tried everything 
else and come up short--and that solution is for this body to pass a 
balanced budget constitutional amendment. That is why I am cosponsoring 
an amendment to the United States Constitution that forces the Federal 
Government to balance its budget, limits the growth of government 
spending, and that requires a supermajority to pass any tax increase. 
Without these measures, we will not successfully deal with this 
problem.
  This is not a new idea. I served here in 1995 and again in 1997. I 
voted for a balanced budget amendment to limit spending and require the 
Federal Government to balance its checkbook. Both times, the Senate 
came one vote short of the necessary two-thirds to pass the 
constitutional amendment and send it to the States for ratification. 
One vote--one Member out of 100--could have voted with us, and we would 
have put ourselves on the path towards a balanced budget. We would not 
have begun to have the problems of ever-increasing debt, ever-
increasing new taxes to cover that debt, and constriction in terms of 
spending for national priorities, such as defense and health research. 
Unfortunately, it didn't. When the amendment failed in 1997, our 
nation's debt stood at $5.36 trillion. Our debt is about three and a 
half times larger today. If we had had the political will to act then, 
we would not be faced with the financial challenges that exist today.
  By passing a balanced budget amendment, we can send to the States not 
just a message that we are serious about addressing our fiscal woes, 
but that we are giving them a voice, we are giving people a voice, and 
we are giving them the power to hold Federal spending accountable. It 
would be a unique opportunity to right a wrong and begin restoring our 
fiscal house by making the Federal Government accountable for its 
spending.
  In March of 1997 I stood on this very floor and warned about the 
dangers of operating outside our means. I said it then, and I would 
like to say it again today. I am quoting from what I said in 1997:

       There is no reliable check on this process of 
     intergenerational theft. It is politically prudent, even 
     popular, and this political calculation will not change, will 
     never permanently change without some kind of systematic 
     institutional counterweight, without some measure to give 
     posterity a voice in our affairs. Nothing, in my view, will 
     permanently change until the accumulation of popular debt is 
     a violation of our oath to the Constitution. Perverse 
     incentives of the current system will not be altered until 
     the system itself is altered, until our political interests 
     are balanced by the weighty words of a constitutional 
     amendment. It would be a much needed balance.

  We need to come to this body at the beginning of each session and put 
our left hand on the Bible and our right hand forward and swear to 
uphold the Constitution, which would involve responsible spending to 
keep us from plunging into disastrous consequences.
  I mentioned earlier that Steven from Martinsville, IN, sent me this 
letter. What I did not mention is that Steven is a Boy Scout working 
toward his Citizenship in the Nation merit badge, which teaches Scouts 
how to become active citizens who are aware of and grateful for their 
liberties and their rights.
  We all know that Boy Scouts take this oath--the oath to be 
trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, 
cheerful, brave, clean, reverent, and thrifty. If we just take one of 
those principles, thrifty, and apply it to our governing, then America 
would be in a better place.
  We cannot fail Steven, and we cannot fail his generation. His share 
of the debt will amount to more than $62,000 in 10 years. Let's not 
keep shifting the hard choices to our children and grandchildren. Let's 
not deny them the opportunity at the American dream that all of us in 
my generation have enjoyed. The opportunity that comes with responsible 
spending and a responsible government. Opportunity that comes to few 
people in the world. We are so privileged as Americans to have that, 
and we are denying that to the future. By passing this balanced budget 
amendment, we can honor the moral tradition of sacrificing for 
posterity instead of asking posterity to sacrifice for us.
  With that, I yield the floor.

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