Jim Saxton: “this is truly an historic debate, and I do not think there is any question about where the sentiment lies in this House…”

“this is truly an historic debate, and I do not think there is any question about where the sentiment lies in this House relative to a balanced budget amendment. I think there is a huge majority that favor a balanced budget amendment, probably 300 or more Members. The question is which one will we support. Will we support a balanced budget amendment that makes it easier to raise taxes, or will we support a balanced budget amendment that makes it more difficult to raise taxes to accomplish the goal that we want to accomplish? I favor the bill that was reported from the Committee on the Judiciary. It requires a 60 percent majority, or three-fifths, in order to raise taxes to balance the budget, and I have come to that conclusion after looking, at great length, to what has happened in our efforts to balance the budget over the last couple of decades. In 1991, Mr. Chairman, the Democrat leaders of the House, the Democrat leadership of the House, and the Republican President got together, and they worked out an arrangement where we would have a tax increase, and for every dollar of tax increases we would have $2 in spending cuts. I say to my colleagues, ``Well, if you asked yourself what happened, you probably guessed it.…”