Date: 2011-11-17
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I want to remind the gentleman. Im looking at a statement that my office brought to my attention that I was on the floor of the House September 22. 2004. Let me say that I wasnt on the floor of the House. I was in a markup on a proposed balanced budget amendment. And I had in the markup. Mr. JACKSON. an amendment called the "poor childrens amendment." In achieving a balanced budget. outlays shall not be reduced in a manner that disproportionately affects outlays for education. nutrition and health programs for poor children. That was called the "poor childrens amendment." dated November 22. 2004. We were dealing with an amendment at that time. It seems like weve done it over and over again. But I want to raise that to say you are very right in your analysis. What that means is that those who would be on the side of saying that we have a crisis with poor children. with nutrition. with the SCHIP program. childrens health insurance program which is now merged into our Affordable Care Act. any other programs that deal specifically with the poorlet me just cite this: 2008. 15.45 million impoverished children in the Nation. 20.7 percent of Americas youth. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that there are currently 5.6 million Texans living in poverty. We have the most uninsured. What it means is that Congresswoman JACKSON LEE would battle it out in the courts. I would leave the floor of the House. I couldnt get the amount increased. and I would challenge the constitutionality of the balanced budget amendment. That would be part of my remedy because I couldnt raise up a threefifths in this body. which is a supermajority. in essence. a supermajority to do the constitutional right that we have for taxation. The House has the pursestrings. and thats a constitutional task. Weve now changed that simple majority that has been written by our Founding Fathers who were building a nation and said. when building a nation. we dont want to be reckless with spending. but let us have a majority that will allow us to tax ourselves and build a nation. Were now arguing that it will be threefifths. And as we have made it your point. a constitutional amendment. as you know that weve gone to courts on the Ninth Amendment. the right to privacy. We are presently in the throngs of the amendments dealing with due process. and out of that 13th. 14th. 15th Amendments came the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Civil Rights Act of 1964. That generates court action. To your point. we will be in court. But I will say this. We will be in court on defense matters as well. Let me just indicate a point about defense. In order to spend more than has been appropriated. agencies tasked with defense and national security will need approval from Congress. This increased reliance on emergency appropriations will have detrimental effects on the sound functioning of our defense and national security institutions. The more these institutions are forced to rely on emergency funding. the more unpredictable these budgets will become. This legislation would allow a military conflict or threat to national security to take the budget out of balance. However. in order to authorize additional funds for military engagement or threats to national security that require action. Congress will need to pass legislation citing a specific amount. So the gentleman who was on the floor is very accurate in what the balanced budget amendment will do is kick us off budget if we have an emergency. Might I just say. as my voice is coming to somewhat of a raspy end. that in addition to being off budget for this Congress. those of usI see the good speaker. a dear friend from Texas. Those of us who are familiar with State budgets. we know that there is a capital budget. and we dont have one here in the Federal Government. And so we spend. if people would know. monies out of the Federal Government to ensure the infrastructure of America. Just a few days ago. Texas had articles talking about our water level. Our water is a lifeline for our ranchers. and something has to be done. I expect the legislature will dig deep to address the diminishing water sources and the water shelf that we have to deal with in places where we have to keep our ranchers going. By the way. ranchers of Texas. I love you. and I am proud to be from Texas where ranching still goes on. You hold on. We have to deal with it. it is a Federal proposition to deal with water all over America. So all of this would be kicked off budget. And I would hope maybe my Texas colleagues would be in the courts with me when they would be denied the right to secure Federal funding to help Texas that is now suffering from enormous deprivation of water because of the drought that we had and some problems that come about through Mother Nature. May I pause for a moment and ask the Speaker how much time is remaining.