William M. Thomas: “here we go again. One more time, Congress is debating the merits of the Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment.…”

“here we go again. One more time, Congress is debating the merits of the Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment. Nothing is new. We have heard all the arguments both for and against before--many times before. I feel like I am in the movie Groundhog Day, where Bill Murray keeps waking up in the morning and finds he is reliving the same day, Groundhog Day, over and over. Fortunately, for Bill Murray, after realizing what is happening to him, and several poor attempts to live the day over again, he gets it right. He turns his life around, becomes a good guy and wins the girl. My hope is that that day is today for the House. After reliving the spectacle of ever increasing deficit spending, lets show the American public that we have learned our lesson. Let's get it right. The evidence is clear. The public has spoken, over 67 percent support the passage of a balanced budget amendment. Our current national debt exceeds $4.3 trillion, $17,495 for every man woman and child in the United States; our last budget surplus was in 1969; in 1993 gross interest payments to finance the deficit totalled $293 billion, the third largest part of our Federal budget and an amount greater than our total budget in 1974, and an amount five times greater than outlays for all education, job training and employment programs combined.”