Date: 2011-11-18
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I rise in opposition of the proposed BalancedBudget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The constitutional balanced budget amendment we are debating this week could force Congress to indiscriminately cut all programs by an average of 17.3 percent by 2018. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. if revenues are not raised and all programs are cut by the same percentage. Social Security would be cut $184 billion in 2018 alone and almost $1.2 trillion through 2021. Medicare would be cut $117 billion in 2018 and about $750 billion through 2021. and Medicaid and the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP) would be cut $80 billion in 2018 and about $500 billion through 2021. I am also concerned the measure adds arbitrary caps on Federal spending that achieves nothing but to cripple this governments ability to jumpstart the economy. make the important investments to secure our future. and ultimately put Americans back to work. That is why I. along with leading economists and Nobel laureates in economics. strongly oppose this radical and debilitating method for addressing our budget woes. My republican colleagues have already had countless opportunities in this Congress to work with us to develop a tangible plan to reduce the deficit and fix this economy. In fact. Republicans have voted seventeen times against Democratic proposals or efforts to simply consider proposals to create or protect American jobs. Fervent calls for a balanced budget make for great political talking points. However. it makes little to no practical sense to stymie this government indefinitely in its ability to borrow reasonable amounts of money to make smart investments in infrastructure. public services. and education. Nobody in this Congress or across the country is claiming that there is anything reasonable about borrowing fifteen trillion dollars. However. what some of my colleagues and I are going even further to say is that it is unreasonable to make severe cuts to vital programs that benefit the majority of Americans at a time when this type of investment is needed the most. Even ignoring all of these points. a balancedbudget amendment would not even take effect in time to address the budget problems that Americans are experiencing today. In fact. if ratified by threequarters of the States. the amendment would not take effect until the second fiscal year beginning after ratification. or the first fiscal year beginning December 31. 2016. whichever is later. The economic problems we are experiencing are a very real threat today. Ignoring all of the fundamental problems with this amendment. it does nothing to address the problems we are having today. Americans are hurting today and we must do what we can today to address these problems. The BalancedBudget Amendment to our Constitution is not the right solution. This country is at a crossroad. I am not talking about finances or the economy. I am talking about a fundamental crossroads in beliefs that will affect generations after generations to come. This debate we are having today goes well beyond the national debt. It is about the fundamental beliefs whether or not we want government to provide the vast amounts of public services we enjoy today or to rely on forprofit private entities to provide those services to us on a forprofit basis. This amendment would force us to shrink government to impractical levels. paving the way for severely reduced public services. very little oversight in the way private entities provide goods and services. and free reign for businesses to operate with the sole purpose in mind of making a profit. Madam Speaker. I strongly oppose this BalancedBudget Amendment that is being considered by the House. I implore my colleagues to see reason and oppose this measure that is before us today. It is a radical measure that would prove catastrophic for this country for generations to come.