Tom Latham: “I, like both of you, I think when I was back at my meetings, the balanced budget amendment was paramount. Very…”

“I, like both of you, I think when I was back at my meetings, the balanced budget amendment was paramount. Very disappointed what happened in the Senate, encouraged by the idea that it will be brought up again and probably passed in the next 60 to 90 days. If not, it will be brought back again next year. In my district, in the 30 counties in northwest Iowa, it is absolutely essential that we have a balanced budget amendment. And I thought it was interesting, when we had a lot of discussion on welfare reform, how far ahead the people in my district are compared to what is being spewed about on the floor here in the House about supposedly cuts in funding for school lunch programs. Every meeting I said, OK, how many here raise your hands if you believe that a 4.5-percent increase is a cut? And obviously we had no hands go up. Apparently the new math that has taken place in Washington has not hit Iowa, because we still understand what real math is and what the truth and the facts of the matter are. And people tell us, if you do anything else, get rid of the failed welfare system that we have in this country and bring back a system with accountability and responsibility and give the people opportunities for the future and do not keep them tied into a system that takes away hope for their families and their future.”