On the recordNovember 15, 2011
It didn't balance, and it didn't pass in the Senate. Ours did not come up for a vote. So Washington continues to function without a budget. And yet, again, our households function with a budget. Mothers and fathers are up at 3 o'clock in the morning worrying about how they're going to pay the bills this month, and yet the Federal Government just says, it doesn't matter. We can just continue to spend money. As long as we don't have a budget, we can spend as much we want. That is the problem. And the American people are tired of this. They are tired of us just with our open checkbook writing, having to raise the debt ceiling to take care of the bills that have already been submitted and the interest that we have to pay. The balanced budget amendment that we're talking about passing passed the House in 1995, went on to the Senate, missed passing by one vote. Where would we be today in our economy if that had passed back then? The Federal Government would have been held to a vote, they would have been held to a budget, and we wouldn't be deciding these things. We wouldn't be having to pass continuing resolutions that the American people look to us in Washington and say, where is the leadership? How can it possibly be that that's the way they're functioning? And yet this is what we have to do to keep Washington running because Washington does have a purpose.…
