Bob Franks: “today I rise in strong support of the Stenholm balanced budget constitutional amendment. I also intend to support the…”

“today I rise in strong support of the Stenholm balanced budget constitutional amendment. I also intend to support the Kyl and Barton amendments. These are all serious proposals that would help Congress do what it refuses to do now--spend the taxpayers' money with intelligence and restraint. The Stenholm amendment would require a three-fifths vote to increase the official limit on our national debt. With such a tool in hand, I believe we in Congress could find the collective will to truly challenge the special interests and the entrenched House leadership with their business as usual mentality. In response to the demand for real change, the Democratic leadership has produced a phony balanced budget amendment, one which exempts major elements of the budget and imposes no new requirements for approving a deficit or raising the debt. This empty alternative gives nothing to the American people; rather, it merely seeks to provide political cover to those who vote for it. In my home State of New Jersey, where we have a requirement to enact a balanced budget each year, support for a Federal balanced budget amendment is overwhelming. The people I represent know it will take sacrifices if we are going to put the Nation on the road to fiscal responsibility. But it must be understood that the people are way ahead of their elected representatives in their willingness to try new ways to tame the deficit monster.”