Bill Posey: “Nearly every State in the union is required to balance its budget each year, including my home State of Florida. Our…”

“Nearly every State in the union is required to balance its budget each year, including my home State of Florida. Our counties, cities, school boards and special districts are all required to make financially responsible decisions with the hard-earned tax dollars of Florida's working families and small businesses. It is long past due for Washington to do the same, which is why the Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is one of the first bills I cosponsored as a new Member of Congress in 2009. For 235 years, the United States has been the greatest economic success story the world has ever known. Yet, the most significant threat ever to our continued success is our unprecedented and rapidly growing national debt. From 1776 to 2008, Washington accumulated a debt of $10.6 trillion. Yet in just the last 3 years alone, another $4.4 trillion in debt has been added for a grand total of $15 trillion and counting. Washington doesn't just have a spending problem. It has an insatiable addiction to spending money it does not have and it is threatening our children's future. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff called it the greatest threat to our Nation. The last time the House voted on and passed a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution--back in 1997--the national debt stood at $5.4 trillion. That year the Balanced Budget Amendment fell just ONE VOTE short of passage in the Senate.…”