Bob Wise: “by the end of this week we will have under consideration a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. That is fine.…”

“by the end of this week we will have under consideration a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. That is fine. West Virginia has a balanced budget requirement, as do most of the States in the Union. I myself have introduced a proposal for a balanced budget amendment. Mr. Speaker, however, before the House undertakes that, and particularly before it begins debate on something so serious, it should definitely spell out, though, exactly how it intends to make the cuts to balance the budget, because that is the concern many of us have, and indeed, many West Virginians have contacted me about. Yes, the idea of a balanced budget within 7 years is an excellent proposal. It sounds good, looks good on a bumper sticker, but how do you actually propose to balance the budget? What is it that gets cut? Do you cut Social Security? "Oh, no," recoil many in horror, "Oh, no." Well, if you are not going to cut that, do you cut Medicare? What health care do you cut? What education programs? Is it Head Start? Is it WIC? Is it the defense budget? What is it that gets cut by the roughly $700 billion that is estimated to balance the budget by the year 2002? West Virginians alike tell me "We don't buy a pig in a poke." By the same token, if we go and we are looking to buy a house, we ask details about the mortgage: What are the interest payments going to be over the next 7, 10, 20 years?”