Charles T. Canady: “let me just point out it is erroneous to claim the House Committee on the Judiciary has not considered this issue. The…”

“let me just point out it is erroneous to claim the House Committee on the Judiciary has not considered this issue. The Committee on the Judiciary has considered the issue. Hearings have been held on this issue. Let me review some of the history that has occurred during this Congress. In the first session of this Congress the Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution held hearings on House Joint Resolution 1, the Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment. Those hearings were conducted on January 9 and January 10. House Joint Resolution 1, as reported by the Committee on the Judiciary on January 11, 1995, included a three-fifths majority voting requirement to increase tax revenues. During floor consideration of House Joint Resolution 1, on January 25 and 26, 1995, the full House voted on the Barton balanced budget proposal, which would have required a three-fifths majority of the entire House and Senate to increase tax revenue and would have allowed a simple majority to waive the requirement in time of war or in the face of serious military threat. Although the Barton proposal received 253 votes, an amendment without the supermajority tax limitation provision was ultimately adopted by the House by a vote of 300 to 132.”