David Price: “the Federal budget deficit is the enemy of both private and public investment in this country. The deficit absorbs our…”

“the Federal budget deficit is the enemy of both private and public investment in this country. The deficit absorbs our Nation's savings, and it forces tradeoffs between popular consumption expenditures and long-term investments in our Federal budget each year. Some of the versions of the balanced budget amendment could actually make this situation worse, given the political appeal of entitlement spending. So we need to ask ourselves, is there a way of crafting a balance budget amendment that would result in reduced spending and, at the same time, encourage and enhance investment? The answer, I believe, is the alternative amendment that the gentleman from West Virginia [Mr. Wise] and I and other Members have developed. We are not alone, Mr. Chairman, in this concern for prudent and responsible investment. Malcolm Forbes recently wrote: It is astonishing that the largest entity in the world, the U.S. Government, books money spent for pencils the same way as money invested in buildings and highways, even though the latter have a useful life of many years. Businesses use depreciation. States also have separate budgets for current expenses and for capital items. People buying a house would be in violation of a balance budget amendment: A mortgage would be regarded as deficit financing.…”