Daniel Schaefer: “today, I rise in support of a balanced- budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. For far too long, deficit reduction…”

“today, I rise in support of a balanced- budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. For far too long, deficit reduction has been ignored by Congress, but we now have the opportunity to vote on several different amendments which will truly mandate that Congress balance its books. The long-term health of the Nation demands a balanced-budget amendment. Congress has shown time and again that it is prepared to waive any inconvenient statutory spending limit that it has imposed upon itself. Two decades of failed attempts to balance the Federal budget has resulted in nothing but gimmicks, deceptions, and ever-higher deficits. Just look at how well these past restraints have worked: The national debt currently exceeds $4.6 trillion. That means that every man, woman, and child in the United States owes over $17,000 because of the extravagant spending habits of this institution. Clearly, if we ever hope to balance the budget, Congress needs the additional weight of the Constitution bearing upon it. Many skeptics claim that we can't balance the budget without decimating Social Security and other important Government programs. I am here today to tell you, the skeptics are simply wrong. Congressman Penny and I have proven that, with our introduction of H.R. 3958, the Fiscal Responsibility of 1994.…”