Jane Harman: “Mr. Chairman, I rise to support the Stenholm and Wise balanced budget amendments. It has become a cliche to say that…”

“Mr. Chairman, I rise to support the Stenholm and Wise balanced budget amendments. It has become a cliche to say that there is no easy way to arrest our deficit problem. We've learned that reducing our borrowing levels is about making tough, unpopular choices. Passing last year's deficit reduction package--which has had dramatic effects--was a hard choice. Including the deficit reduction trust fund, which insured that all the net savings from the budget plan went to deficit reduction, was another hard choice. Voting for the imperfect yet necessary Penny-Kasich amendment, which would have made an additional $90 billion in spending cuts, was, for many of us, a very tough choice. This debate confronts us again with imperfect options, and, again, I urge my colleagues to make the choice toward further deficit reduction. There is nothing that focuses attention like a hangman's noose. Though the balanced budget amendment is not the perfect solution to our problem, it does focus our attention to the highest degree. Constitutional prohibitions against deficit spending will compel the Congress to make the hard choices, even when the debate focuses, as it inevitably must, on political untouchables like entitlements and subsidies.”