Dan Miller: “I rise in strong support of the Barton tax limitation-balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. I was elected on a…”

“I rise in strong support of the Barton tax limitation-balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. I was elected on a promise to fight for real change. But here we are today, very little having changed. I have spent the last 15 months watching a broken budget process continue to generate massive new taxes, higher spending, and a ballooning Federal debt. Congress likes to talk about making tough choices, but the majority never actually votes for fiscal restraint. We saw it during the 1990 budget deal under a Republican administration, and again in the 1993 budget deal under a Democrat administration--tax and spend all over again. We saw it last fall in this body's refusal to enact the bipartisan Penny-Kasich spending reduction package. And we saw it last week in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization--loaded down with nearly $1.8 billion in education pork, programs that President Clinton did not ask for in his 1995 budget request. But the pork is still in the bill, and it probably will stay and grow over the years. The same is true for every spending bill produced by this Congress. I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that this Congress is institutionally incapable of living within the taxpayers' limited means. Unless we show the courage today to change the rules of the game at the constitutional level, the taxpayers will continue to lose.”