Sylvester Turner: “I am particularly pleased my colleague mentioned the constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget. That…”

“I am particularly pleased my colleague mentioned the constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget. That amendment was introduced by one of our fellow Blue Dogs, the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Berry). I had the opportunity to serve in the Texas legislature, the Texas House and Texas Senate, for 10 years; and in Texas, as in most every other State in the Union, we have a requirement in law, in Texas it is in our constitution, that we have a balanced budget. So every year when the legislature convenes, they are required to not spend anymore than is estimated to come into the next budget cycle; and if they fail to do that, they have violated the Texas constitution. If we had such a restraint in our Federal Constitution, we would not be here tonight talking about a five, almost $6 trillion national debt. We would have solved that problem a long time ago, and the gentleman from Arkansas' (Mr. Berry) constitutional amendment makes sure that we have a balanced budget by including that requirement in our Constitution.”