Joe Lieberman: “I intend to vote against House Joint Resolution 1, a joint resolution proposing a balanced budget amendment to the…”

“I intend to vote against House Joint Resolution 1, a joint resolution proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution of the United States. At the same time, I want to make it clear that not only do I support balancing the budget, I have devoted a good deal of my time in the Senate toward achieving that goal. Most recently, I worked with a bipartisan group of Senators to develop a bipartisan balanced budget package. We spent over 6 months putting together a package which set reasonable discretionary spending limits, began the process of entitlement reform, and contained a reasonable set of tax initiatives. I was, and continue to be, proud of these efforts. And while we did not win the vote on this package, I am delighted to note that we came pretty close in a 46 to 53 vote, with 24 Democrats and 22 Republicans voting for what has come to be known as the Centrist Coalition plan. I found this vote heartening and I think it speaks well for the future of balancing the budget. Because if there is one thing we are all coming to realize, it is that one political party is not going to be able to do it alone. Rather than heading down the path of amending our Constitution to say we want to balance the budget someday, I hope that Members of this body will consider redoubling our bipartisan efforts to actually balance the budget. It seems to me that we are very close to agreeing on a 7-year balanced budget plan, this year, in this Congress.”