On the recordJuly 29, 2011
I thank the gentleman for yielding. Our national debt stands at a staggering $14.3 trillion and we currently borrow more than 40 cents on every dollar we spend, and our President and Democrats in the other body say that a balanced budget amendment is ``dead on arrival.'' Fifteen years ago, the balanced budget amendment passed the House with a bipartisan vote only to lose by one vote, one vote in the Senate. A constitutional amendment is the only way to ensure that future Congresses live within their means and end the spending binge. Our colleague, Congressman McClintock, might have summed it up best in a Washington Times op-ed earlier this week. He said: Imagine a family that earns $50,000 a year but is spending more than $88,000 a year and has a credit card balance of $330,000 a year. That's us. We're bankrupt, and Washington is broken. Why are Senate Democrats and the President so afraid of making a commitment to balance our budget? Stop the spending. No more empty promises. No more excuses.
