Ronald Machtley: “Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the balanced-budget amendment. It is a resolution that I have supported since…”

“Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the balanced-budget amendment. It is a resolution that I have supported since I came to Congress. I have supported it because I believe it is the only way that we will get the debt away from our children. American families in my home State of Rhode Island and across this Nation every year must make tough choices. They must live within their own budgets. Federal, State, and local taxes, high mortgage payments, car payments, tuition payments, medical bills, all of these are factors in everyone's life, but they must live within their budgets. The Federal Government must start doing that as well. Even though we have tried, we have seen over the last 15 years our expenses going up and our revenues going down. In fact, during the last 12 months, spending has been up 4 percent, and revenues have only been up 0.2 percent. Just 20 years ago, no Federal debt annually approximated $25 billion. Now we casually treat an annual debt of $300 billion as if that is acceptable.”