Date: 1982-10-01
Speaker: WILLIAM J. COYNE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I suspect that most of my colleagues. like myself. are distressed by the trilliondollar national debt and the unprecedented deficit confronting us this year. I doubt. however. that most are yet aware that the balanced budgettax limitation amendment is a delusion. Something called a balanced budget amendment will rule out unbalanced Federal budgets In the future. right? Wrong. The amendment itself contains language permitting Congress to continue to vote for deficits. This amendment is supported by those who. having exhausted all existing means to balance the budget. now turn in desperation to the Consthution. right? Wrong. President Reagan pleads for public support for this amendiy. :nt without so much as a whisper that his own budget proposals comprised the biggest budgetbusting operations ever witnessed on Capitol Hill. While I shall not provide the charts and shrinking dollar bills that President Reagan finds so helpful in describing the reasons for his economic decisions. let me share with you some rather stark facts about the administration which asks that we adopt a balanced budget amendment: Even with the adoption of the recent $98 billion tax increase. the Federal deficit is expected to average $143 billion a year over the 4 years of the Reagan administration. By the end of President Reagans term of office. the total national debt is expected to reach $1.7 trillion. This administration alone will have amassed 41 percent of that debt. Despite President Reagans contention that the economic ills of our country must be laid at the door of the previous administration. the smallest defcit of the Reagan administration. $112 billion. is nearly twice as large as the largest deficit of the Carter administration. $60 billion. Those of us in Congress who tried to restore budget sanity last year and this year were overwhelmed by the White House. Every Democratic alternative budget considered this year. it should be noted. would have produced lower deficits cumulatively over 3 years than any Republican proposal. including the administrations. Some would suggest the balanced budget amendment is supported by those who put the Nations fiscal wellbeing ahead of personal interest and social philosophy. Wrong again. Major proponents of this amendment include those who consistently oppose social programs for the underprivileged while championing the cause of the militaryindustrial establishment. It 13 more than curious in this connection that social programs typically are financed out in the open through the budget process. while many of the programs which aid the wealthy and giant corporations are provided through the back door through tax loopholes that never appear as budget items. The arguments in favor of this amendment are more ideological than fiscal. Few believe that the administration and its allies would. if the amendment were in effect this year. press for decreases in military spending or for changes in some of the income tax cuts adopted last year. Based on every indication to date. the administration would try to cut housing. mass transit. social security. welfare. health. and other social programs. Mr. Chairman. the question of the hour for the Nation is not whether we balance the budget. It is whether this Congress. and this administration. will employ the unemployed. I ask the sponsors of this amendment the question that thousands of Pennsylvanians would ask about any measure considered in the final hours of this session: What will this bill do for new Jobs? It will. of course. do nothing. Moreover. by straitJacketing the Congress in the midst of a severe recession. it could prevent the necessary decisions which could forestall economic calamity. The Reagan administrations economic policies have caused our economy to go into a state of shock. A balanced budget amendment could make It comatose. A vote or statement for the balanced budget amendment may case some consciences and fool some of the public for a short time. It Is not a substitute for biting the bullet in the hard decisions in setting the Nations spending and tax priorities. Amendments to the Conrtitution do not balance budgets. That is the function of the elected representatives. Our actions are appropriately judged by the people at election time. That is how we have conducted the affairs of this Nation for more than 200 years. I see no reason. politically attractive though a balanced budget may be in an election year. to alter our Constitution. and our budgetmaking process. in so radical a manner. I urge my colleagues to defeat this resolution.