Adam Smith: “I rise today to urge fiscal discipline and fiscal responsibility as we work on the budget for the next fiscal year. Back…”

“I rise today to urge fiscal discipline and fiscal responsibility as we work on the budget for the next fiscal year. Back in the 1980s when we were running up our yearly deficits and consequently our overall Federal debt, there was a phrase that politicians used to utter in dealing with the problem which was, ``The balanced budget has no constituency,'' which is to say that when you spend money or cut taxes, there is somebody or some group of somebodies who are going to be happy about it. It has a constituency that you can please. Who benefits from the balanced budget? Who specifically? Well, obviously the entire public, both present and future, of our Nation benefits from it, but in purely political terms, those folks in the 1980s and 1990s had a point. The constituencies were definitely more well defined for all of the programs and tax cuts that were being proposed and passed. I just stand up today to say that fiscal discipline and fiscal responsibility should still be a priority.”