William Tauzin: “yesterday as we began this debate on the balanced budget amendment, we heard a lot of discussion about alternatives…”

“yesterday as we began this debate on the balanced budget amendment, we heard a lot of discussion about alternatives, including the possibility of a capital budget amendment, the idea being that, ``Well, American families borrow money, don't they? And they get to sign mortgages, don't they? Why couldn't we here in Washington continue to borrow money and sign mortgages like American families do, and then have a balanced budget built around that concept?'' There is only one problem with that theory. That theory is based upon the notion that American families do that, so why not have the Government do that? The difference is that when American families sign a mortgage, when they buy a home or when they buy a car and sign on the dotted line on that mortgage agreement, they agree to pay the debt back. Here in Washington, when we mortgage the future, when we accumulate debt year after year after year and pile it on, there is no agreement ever to pay it back. All we ever do is pay the interest on the loan. I ask you, ``Wouldn't you love to be a family that could borrow at will from the bank and never be required to do anything more than pay the interest?'' Who in America gets that right except the Federal Government? Who in America gets away with that kind of financing except the Federal Government? It just does not work that way.…”