Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes. Yesterday, we began debate on the balanced budget amendment, debate that I hope culminates today with a bipartisan two-thirds vote in its favor. The American people of all political stripes and from all walks of life demand we pass this amendment. Recent polling by CNN indicates that a constitutional amendment to require a balanced Federal budget garners more than 70 percent support among men, women, whites, nonwhites, every age group, every income level, and people from every region of the country. Why do Americans overwhelmingly support a balanced budget amendment? Because they understand that unending Federal deficits wreck our economy and steal prosperity from future generations. President Obama has set the wrong kind of new record. The national debt has increased faster under his administration than under any other President in history. This runaway government spending paralyzes the job market, erodes confidence among America's employers, and has caused the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression. The balanced budget amendment is not an untested idea. Forty-nine States have some form of a balanced budget requirement. We are overdue to adopt a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. We must stop the flood of deficit spending that threatens to drown future generations of Americans in a sea of debt. I reserve the balance of my time.
Share & report
More from Lamar Smith
With clear Congressional direction, strong White House leadership, and NASA's tremendous expertise, we have all the resources available to make significant progress in human space exploration.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Virginia (Mrs. Comstock), the chairwoman of the Research and Technology Subcommittee, for yielding me time to speak on her legislation. The bill, H.R. 6229, the National Institute of Standards and…
It is truly staggering to behold how this space telescope's cost and schedule projections went from costing the same as a space shuttle mission--around half-a-billion dollars with an original launch date in 2007--to now becoming an…
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Oklahoma, the vice chairman of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (Mr. Lucas), for yielding me time on his bill. The energy bill we are considering is H.R. 5906, the ARPA-E Act of 2018…





