Mike Doyle: “I rise in support of the only bipartisan, bicameral balanced budget amendment. I speak of House Resolution 28 which I am…”

“I rise in support of the only bipartisan, bicameral balanced budget amendment. I speak of House Resolution 28 which I am cosponsoring because I believe we cannot wait any longer to address this country's budget deficit. It was in March of last year, when I was simply a candidate for Congress, that this House last voted on a balanced budget amendment. The amendment failed then, but the deficit has not stopped growing. In fact, the national debt has increased by more than $160 billion since last March. Gross interest payments alone are costing us $315 million per day. Until we bring this problem under control these interest payments will continue to skyrocket, devouring larger and larger portions of the budget. This process has a devastating regressive effect on the rest of the budget because it severely hampers our ability to fund important discretionary programs. Our interest payments this year alone will be 8 times higher than expenditures on education and 50 times higher than expenditures on job training. We cannot exacerbate this situation any further or we will completely cripple countless generations to come. For this reason, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support the bipartisan balanced budget amendment, House Resolution 28.”