to say that, you know, we want to extract $2 trilon over the next decade from programs that benefit senio like social security and medicare and say we're doing it, to -- doing it to keep from imposing a burden on our children and grandchildren, as if this balanced budget amendment benefited those children, mr. speaker this program will devastate public education, it will devastate the federal government's current mandatory spending and pell grants, a program that's designed to help us meet the global challenges of the future by educating our assets, our children. it's a program that in the next decade will take a half trillion dollars out of the children's health insurance program. it's a program that will exacerbate the hunger that children face right now.

our w.i.c. and food stamp program, the earned tax income credits, we have now one in five children today that are going to bed hungry. so when say we want t bance the budget, we are balancing them on the backs of our children. and those children that we are trying to prevent or we say that we are trying to save must be the children of those heirs, those 1% that we are now enriching. and with that, mr. speaker, i would reluctantly yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: mr. speaker, at this time it's my pleasure to yield two minutes to the gentleman from illinois, mr. schilling, a member of the agriculture committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized for two minutes. mr. schilling: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd also like to thank mr. goodlatte for giving me the time today. you know, we continue to hear a common thread, let's raise taxes on our job creators with no

solution to our spending problem . i rise today as the people's house prepares to vote for an amendment to our constitution that would require congress and the president to balance the budget. i look forward to voting in favor of this amendment today. 15 years ago an amendment nearly identical to this one passed the house with strongbipartisan support. but failed by one single vote in the senate. since that time our debt has tripled. did you know that on wednesday our national debt surpassed $15 trillion? and it has been nearly 950 days since the senate has passed a budget. not to mention the 20 jobs th are sitting over there that they've decided not to act upon. the american people deserve better. you deserve a credible plan to help get our fiscal house in order. grow our economy and get folks back to work. it's clear, though, we cannot

borrow or spend our way out of this mess, we also cannot afford to put off badly needed but difficult decisions. we need to tackle this unsustainable spending addiction head-on. since coming to washington, my fellow freshman colleagues and i have helped change the way the conversation has been held here for yes from how much can we spend to how much can we save? this is a good start but we can do much more to get our country on a better fiscal path and save the american dream for our kids and our grandkids. we have the duty to leave our kids and our grandkids with a country better off than it is now. we have the opportunity here to fundamentally change the way washington does business, by supporting a balanced budget amendment. it's time for washington to balance the budget, i'm pleased to vote in strong support of balanced budget amendment and will continue working on ways to get our fiscal house in order. grow -- order, grow america's

economy and create job i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. nadler: i mr. speaker, i now yield two minutes to the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized for twoinutes. mr. johnson: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in strong opposition to h.j.res. 2. it represents an attack on the middle class and the most vulnerable in our society. by the grover norquist tea party republicans. you see, there is no fiscal emergency but the fiscal crisis has been manufactured by the tea partyiers along with grover norquist andhe republicans that represent them for the purposes of tricking the american people into thinking that america can't pay its bills . we paid our debts, we can pay our debts and we'll continue to pay our debts. just like families of america who incur debt as a normal course of taking care of their families, we've heard a lot of

analogies to the federal government should balance its budget like a family, but how many 99ers, how many families do you know that can go out and purchase a car for cash? how many of those 99ers, how many of those families out there working can afford to pay for a house cash? everybody out there incurs debt for legitimate expenses and this nation has legitimate expenses that it has to pay debts for. like two wars, like a medicare part d supplement, like the bush tax cuts that th don't want to expire. so what they're doing, ladies and gentlemen, is they are trying to enshrine in the constitution what is already an unfair tax system. a system that favors the rich

and balances the budget on the backs of the middle class. those are the people that pay for america's expenses, not the corporations and wealthy individuals. many of whom do not pay one red cent in taxes and you know it's true and they know it's true. so, ladies and gentlemen, i rise instrong opposition. this is shortsighted, mean-spirited, unfair, wrongful and i urge my colleagues to vote against it. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: mr. speaker, at this time it's my pleasure to yield two minutes to the gentleman from illinois, mr. wasm, chairman of the -- walsh, chairman of the small business growth committee. mr. walsh: thank you, mr. speaker, and a big thank you to the gentleman from virginia for taking a lead, a very strong lead, on this issue. mr. speaker, like many of my fellow freshman, i was sent here

to washington because we're broke. we have a government we can't afford, like all of us we were sent here, though, not just to cut spending. were sent here hopefully to try to change the way this town does business so that we never get to this point again. so that our kids and our grandkids aren't stuck with a bill they'll never be able to pay off. as a freshman in congress, the very first bill i introded back in march was a balanced budget amenent. and it was a stronger balanced budget amendment than this. it included a spending limitation, it made it more difficult for myself and my colleagues to raise taxes. i support this balanced budget amendment with everything i've got because, again, we have an opportunity to do something fairly historic.

and this amendment will enable us to do that. you know, i've leard in my year, almost a year as a congressman, that there's plenty hypocrisy in this chamber, on both sides of the aisle. the hypocrisy today is grettably, mr. speaker, with too many of our democratic colleagues who really would like to vote for this but they simply can't because of political reasons. and i would ask them, i would implore my democratic colleagues to just think about, again, what our kids and our grandkids will say and we throw their names around here often, what they will say to us 20, 30, 40 years down the road when they know we didn't exhibit the courage we need to exhibit right here and now. so i stand with my colleague from virginia in full support of this balanced budget amendment and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from new york is recognized.

mr. nadler: mr. speaker, i now yield three minutes to the distinguished gentleman from new york, mr. engel. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for three minutes. mr. engel: i thank my friend fromew york and i rise in strong opposition to this piece of legislation. you know, with all due respect, i always enjoy listening to my republican friends lecture us about fiscal responsibility. may i remind them that when bill clinton left office we had record surpluses and in eight years of george bush record deficits and may i remind my republican friends that for six of those eight years during the bush years republicans controlled both houses of the congress. so if we were going to do the right thing and attempt to balance our budget, we could have done so then. but what did we do then? we fought two wars on the credit card, we had tax cuts for the pealty, which we're now paying for -- for the wealthy, which we're now paying for in terms of our desits now, prescription drug program unpaid for, and so it seems to me that if we have

the resolve to do it,ou know, i love people who have newfound religion, but when they control the place -- controlled the place we went from a massive surpluses to massive deficits. now, this congress needs to work with the president in passing a jobs bill. this congress should be passing a robust transportation bill. this congress should get out of the business of attacking our labor, attacking seniors, attacking women and do what the american people want us to do, put people back to work. a balanced budget amendment will ultimately lead to either draconian cuts in the social safety net for some of our nation's most cherished programs, like social security, medicare and medicaid, or significant tax hikes on the nation's middle class. this is nothing more than a gimmick to garner headlines while avoiding the tough decisions that the people have asked us to make. there may be times in the future when we need to run a surplus, there may be times when we need to run a deficit to stimulate the economy. this amement handcuffs us and puts us in a straight january

jacket where we have nowhere to move. i care and my constituents care very much about preserving medicare, medicaidnd social security. i think that if we're going to get our budget to balance, it's not only cuts in programs that we need, although my friends on the other side of the aisle fret about defense cuts. we need to cut spending, yes, we also need to raise taxes on those who can most afford to do it. the 1%. i think that's something we should consider. so while we think this is one-size-fits-all and we can all go home and say, well, we tried to save the republic, what i think this does is handcuff us for generations to come, makes it impossible for us to stimulate the economy and makes it impossible for us to continue those social service programs that the american people have come to rely on, medicare, medicaid and social security. i think we need to meet in a sensible center, not have something like this.

let me finally say that what is truly absurd is we require only a simple majority to send our men anwomen in uniform into harm's way but the republican majori would require a supermajority to raise the nation's debt ceiling. we all saw how close our economy came to disast with only a simple majority vote to raise the debt ceiling the last time. so i would say to my colleagues, vote no, let's do a job that we were elected to do let's make the tough choices, we don't need a balanced budget amendment. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: mr. speaker, i yield myself one minute to respond to my good friend fro new york. i would just say to the gentleman that we do need to do the job but you don't have to look ahead to wonder what's going to happen. all you have to do is look back. over the last 50 years we've balaed the bget just six times. and we've run up a $15 trillion national debt. the gentleman has cited some criticism of republican votes but there are plenty of demoatic votes, in the four years that the democrats were in

control of this congress, just recently, we added $4 trillion to the national debt. now, the fact of the matter is, over the 50 years, 37 of those years democrats have controlled the house of representatives and only two of those 37 years was it balanced. so when the gentleman says that some years we'll run surpluses and some years we'll run deficits, that's very true, but the history has been, almost all those years will run deficits unless we have a discipline in our constitution to require that we do otherwise. and i would also point out that in the four years since the gentleman has been here, and i've been here, that 've had balanced budgets, thgentleman, for i'm sure reasons that he felt were very justified, voted against all four of the budgets that balanced in this congress. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new york is prized -- is recognized. mr. nadler: mr. speaker, i yield myself two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized.

mr. nadler: the fact is the reason this country is in such deficit is because of a deliberate republican crusade over the last 30 years to reduce taxes on the rich in order to deliberately to create huge deficits and then to use those deficits as the excuse to justify large cuts to gut social security and medicare and medicaid and education programs that they have never liked in the first place but could not justify cutting without it. we used to tax -- taxes used to be 18% to 19% of the economy or g.d.p. now, they are about 14% of g.d.p. and yet the republicans won't increase it because we decrease the taxes on the rich and the corporation top corporations. we are not taxing the millionaires and billionaires the which we used to. the fact is you look at the history here, when ronald reagan took over as president of the united states, the entire national debt of the united states accumulated from george washington through jimmy carter was less than $800 billion. then you had 12 years of reagan

and the first bush cutting taxes on the rich and when clinton took over you had a $4.3 trillion deficit. and it was expected to go much higher. we made the tough decisions, we voted for increased taxes in 1993 and for cutting the budget -- for cutting the budget. and when clinton left office eight years later the budge hab balanced. from the time we made that vote in 1993, the deficit decreased every year until it became a surplus. then it increased every year. when bush ii took over we were looking at a $5.7 trillion surplus over the next 10 yea and pay off the entire national debt. then we had those huge bush tax cuts and the unresponsible two wars. and when he left office we had a turn-around of $13 trillion and a recession which cause us the bigger deficits now. when the c.b.o. gave -- i'll

give myself an additional 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. nadler: when the c.b.o. estimated before president obama took office it said that the next year's deficit would be $1.2 trillion before he did anything. and i would remind us that the nondefense discretionary spending in this country has t gone up by a nickel. it adjustefor inflation and population growth since 2001 when we had a huge surus. the problem is that our taxes on the rich are too low. we cannot reach an agreement in the supercommittee because the republicans will not tax the rich. and that's the basic problem. and a balanced budget amendment will not solve that problem. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back and reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. golatte: thank you, mr. speaker. i'll yield myself a minute to respond to the gentleman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. goodlatte: first off, let me be very clear, when the gentleman talks about the since he wants to impose upon republicans for not balancing the budget, i think that's a

very good argument. but since this is a bipartisan bill and dozens of his colleagues will be voting for this, i think it's because those who vote for it recognize that this is true on both sides of the aisle, that there has been a lack of tough decisions that have led to balanced budgets. every single year i vote for the toughest budget offered in this congress. those budgets never pass. why? because there's no requirement that they do so. so what do we have? we have complaints on the other side of the aisle that there is a terrible plot on our part to bring about all kinds of harsh cuts. this balanced budget amendment doesn't make any distinction between whether you balance a budget by raising taxes or cutting spending. i'm going to do it to cut spending because i see lots of waste in our government and i voted for budgets that bring about a balance without raising taxes. but that is not the point here. the point is that it doesn't get done either way. i yield myself an additional 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. goodlatte: as to the gentleman's complaints is that

we haven't taxed the rich, my goodness. in the last congress under the control of your party you extended all of those tax cuts for everyone. everyone. and the fact of the matter is that the top 1% of american families pay 38%. 38% of the personal income taxes in this country today. so -- and that, by the way, is up from 34% in 2001. so all of this can be on the table when we have a discussion about how to balance the budget. all we're debating here today is the pnciple of whether or not we should balance a budget and looking at the past history where we have not indeed balanced it but six times in 50 years. mr. speaker, at this time it's my pleasure to yield two minutes to the gentleman from florida, mr. west, who is not only a member of the house armed services committee but a great advocate for fiscal responsibility and the balanced budget amendment. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman fromlorida is recognized for two minutes. mr. west: thank you, mr.

speaker, and i want to thank my colleague from virginia and i want to rise and support h.j.res. 2 which is the balanced budget amendment. the united states of america has just topped $15 trillion in debt. $4.4 trillion of new debt has been added. in greece we see a debt to g.d.p. ratio of 128%. mr. speaker, in italy it's 120% debt to g.d.p. ratio. the united states of america is now at 101% debt to g.d.p. ratio. it's about time we start to take a decision. are we going to be fiscally discipline? are we going to have fiscal responsibility? are we going to continue to bankrupt the future of our children and grandchildren because we were sent here to be elected officia, sent here to be leaders and we were afraid to make tough decisions? historically we won't make tough decisions. i have been here 11 months but i have to tell you we have to do something different. it has to start now or else what do i say, mr. speaker, to

my two daughters, 18 and 14? am i going to say that i didn't have the courage to stand here today to make the tough decisions in order for them to have a bright and prosperous future in the united states of america? in fiscal year 2011 we saw a 6.5% increase in revenue in the united states of america. yet, we still had a $1.3 trillion we follows on the heels of a $1.42 trillion and $1.29 trillion deficit. now is time for a balanced budget amendment. if n now then when? when we hit $20 trillion debt? mr. speaker, i think that each and every one of us here today when we cast our vote there eds to be that little yellow why next to our names, because if it's a -- yellow y next to our names because if it's a red n we are telling the american people we're not willing to stand up, we are not making ourselves fiscally responsible. i think that's absolutely

apprehensible. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair notes that the gentleman from virginia has 15 1/2 minutes remaining. the gentleman from new york has 13 minutes remaining. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: reserves. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: it's my pleasure to yield to mr. johnson, a member of the house veterans' affairs committee and a supporter of the balanced budget amendment. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. johnson: it's amazing we still keep talking about the bush-era tax cuts. those same tax cuts are today's current tax laws which have been affirmed by this congress, this sflat and signed into law by -- senate and signed into law by this president. so why we keep blaming financial woes on president bu is beyond me. but let's make one thing perfectly clear. the american people are not

taxed too little. the problem is that washington spends too much. this has been going on for years and it needs to stop now. we need a balanced budget amendment. because washington has clearly indicated its inability to discipline itself. this balanced budget amendment offers congress and the president a very clear choice. either stand with the already overtaxed american families and small businesses who have to balance their budgets on a daily basis or stand with the washington establishment that always demands more of the american people, more of their hard-earned tax dollars without any accountability with how they spend their money. american families have to stick to a budget every month, so why should the federal government be any different? we can't keep mortging our children's future to china. it's time to take a stand, mr. speaker. the tax and spend and then blame the american people for

not paying their, quote, fair share game, must end and it can end today. passing the balanced budget amendment will help bring this country back to economic prosperity and end this game. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: t gentleman yields back. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. nadler: mr. speaker, i recognize the gentleman from illinois for unanimous consent statement. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized. >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a letter of national organizations opposing the balanced budget amendment. mr. jackson: they include the children welfare league of america, the children's defense fund, the children's dental health project, the disability rights education and defense fund, division of early childhood of the council for exceptional children, the easter seals, every child matters education fund, families u.s.a., the form for youth investment, the foster family base treatment association, horizons f homeless children, the national association for adults with

special learning needs, the naonal associatiofor education of young children, the national association of elementary school principals, the national association of private special education centers, the national association of school psychologists, the national association of secondary school principals, the national black child development institute, the national partnership for women and families, the national school boards association, school association of america, youth build u.s.a., the ywca, the aids alliance for children, youth and family, the alliance for educational excellence, the association of education service agencies. i ask unanimous consent, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection? mr. nadler: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. nadler: mr. speaker, i now yield the gentleman from illinois four minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized for four minutes. mr. jackson: i thank you, mr. speaker.

mr. spear, i like my good friend from virginia to engage me in a dialogue on a series of questions. the most important question to be raised with respect to the b.b.a. at least for me, and i believe most americans, is how does the balanced budget amendment narrow certain gaps that are obvious in our society? the first gap, m cirman, is the social gap between racial minorities and the majority population. how does the balanced budget amendment narrow that gap? mr. goodlatte: the balanced budget amendment is fair to all because all it simply says is that for all time the people of this country want their government to live within their means, not just right now, but in the future as well. right now we're not anywhere near living within our means. $1.3 trillion deficit each of the last three years. mr. jackson: respectfully, mr. chairman, reclaiming my time. it does not reduce the gap between racial minorities and

the majority populaon. my next question -- there's a gender gap in our society. women earned 76 cents to the dollar of what men earn in our ciety. how does the balanced budget amendment close the gap between what women earn in our society and what men earn in our society? mr. goodlatte: if you don't balance the budget and you continue to pile up enormous debt, women, children, minorities, all will ffer in the future because our economy will shrink just like greece's econy is shrinking right now because they can't meet their obligations. and to answer the gentleman's question, i think it's best to turn to the people themselves. mr. jackson: respectfully, mr. chairman, reclaiming my time. the balanced budget amendment doesn't close the gap for women who earn 76 cents to the dollar of what men make because only the federal government in the 50 states can close the gap between what women earn in our society and what men earn in our society. how does the balanced budget

amendment close the economic gap between the rich and the poor in our society? i'd be happy to yield to my friend from virginia. mr. goodlatte: sure. i say that the rich pay far, far more than other people too and they should, but this balanced budget amendment doesn't make any distinction between how you balance it, whether it's by increasing revenues, whether it's by economic growth or whether it's by tax increases. mr. jackson: reclaiming my time. the failure of the balanced budget amendment not making any distinction between the rich and the poor is part of the fall is i and the problem with the balanced budget amendment -- fallacy and the problem with the balanced budget amendment. we are here as representatives of the people to close profound gaps that exist between our constituents and a society. we're supposed to be one america. we're supposed to be all-american. we are supposed to be one people eplur bus uniimgoing somewhere. but what i'm hearing from the gentleman is the gaps will not close.

goode -- >> will the gentleman yield? mr. jackson: i'll yield. thank you, mr. majority, controlling the time. infrastructure gap, upgrades to roads and communities that have been left hind, bridges, ports, levees and sewer systems, how does a balanced budget amendment propose to close the infrastructure gaps that exist in our society where as the states themselves failed to do so? mr. goodlatte: if you don't have the resources because you spent it on other things you won't have the infrastructure. mr. jackson: reclaiming my time. i must assume there is no goal of the balanced budget amendment to close the -- mr. goodlatte: will the gentleman yield? mr. jackson: yes. mr. goodlatte: a growing economy results from living within your means and then using those -- mr. jackson: reclaiming my time. it is obvious thathe balanced budget amendment does not narrow the economic, social,

gender and generational gap and infrastructural gaps in our country. mr. speaker, vote down the b.b.a. give the american people a reason to believe that the federal government can close the gaps that exist within our society. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. jackson: i'd be happy to yield back the balance. thank you, madam chair. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia. mr. goodlatte: madam speaker, i eld myself a minute to say to the gentleman that the balanced budget amendment also will not deliver a pennant to the chicago cubs. let me also say this, let me also say this, in talking about those groups that the gentleman is rightly concerned about how they will do in the future, cnn asked them what they thought a balanced budget amendment to the united states constitution and 75% of women said they favored a balanced budget amendment to the constitution. 72% of nonwhite voters said they favored a balanced budget amendment to the constitution. 79% of our senior citizens said

they favored a balanced budget amendment to the constitution. 79% of those who earn less than $50,000 a year said they favor a balanced budget amendment to the united statesonstitution. and the same is true whether you look at urban areas, suburban areas, rural areas or any geographic region of our untry. they support a balanced budget amendment. i'd be happy to yield. mr. jackson: what would a balanced budget amendment do for the chicago white sox? i am a south cider. mr. goodlatte: i am a boston fan. we have a ways to go. the speaker pro teore: the gentleman's time has expired. . the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: since the gentleman has admitted to thealanced budget amendment would not deliver the pep nant to the white sox or red sox or the cubs or i suppose the yankees, there is no argent for the balanced budget amendment. i reserve at this time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves his time. the gentleman from virginia. mr. goodlatte: mr. speaker, it's now my pleasure to yield two wints to the distinguished gentleman from illinois, who is the chief deputy whip and member

of the ways and means committee, mr. roskam. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for as much time -- two minutes. the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. roskam: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding. there is a level of anxiety that we are sensing back at home as people are looking at washington, d.c., for solutions and there is various tails -- tales going on right now in terms of what the joint select committee will be able to produce. the fact of the matter is we don't know what the yield is going to be of that negotiation. that's still ongoing. and we'll be dealing with that next week. but we know what we can do right now, madam speaker. we can create a buoyancy and a sense of clarity and a sense of cohesiveness to seize upon a bipartisan moment. a moment that the country came close to in 1995, it came within a whisker of paing the balanced budget amendment and sending it out to the states. over 70 house democrats in 1995,

including several of the current leaders, voted in favor of that amendment, and now here we are and we have that opportunity to do the same thing, although to do it successfully. this is not about donkeys and elephants. this is ultimately about us coming together as a congress in a thoughtful way that says one thing to the united states and that is, we can govern wisely, we can govern forthrightly, we can live within our means, and we can do what the overwhelmin majority, madam speaker, of the american public wants us to do, and that is to balance our budget. i urge both sides of the aisle, and to come down here in a short period of time and vote aye. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: i reserve at this point. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from virginia. mr. goodlatte: at this time it's

my pleasure to yield two minutes to the gentleman from ohio, mr. latta, a member of the house energy and commerce committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized for two minutes. mr. latta: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman from virginia for yielding. i had the prilege for six years of serving the county commissioner of ohio and 11 years to serve in the general assembly. during that time we saw good times and we saw bad times in the economy. but the bad times our nstitution told us and the state of ohio that we had to balance our books to make sure that we didn't overspend. that's what this house to do -- has to do and this country has to do. for over 50 years and only in balance six times during that period of time? that's horrendous. it's kind of interesting because i was at a town hall talking one day and one of my farmers came up and asked this question, he said i don't understand what the problem is in washington. what's the president want to spend? i told him. about $3.8 trillion.

he said how much have you got? i told him how much what we thought the revenue was going to be for the year. he said it's simple. all you got to do is subtract yo revenues from what you want to spend and that's all he get to spend is just that revenue. you don't spend over the top of it. people back home understand it because people back home sit around their kitchen tables and dining room tables and they get their pencils and papers out and figure out how much they can spend. it's not complicated. but we've got to start thinking about this because we are going to -- in debt now $15 trillion. when i have to look at my kids' faces and kids down the street and go to schools and talk to these young children, who they are going to ask me in 10, 15 years what did you do to us not for us? and it's time that this congress act and pass this balanced budget amendment. we have been talking about it for years. we have that opportunity today. i thank the gentleman for bringing it forth. and i can't tell you i wish i could vote for it more than once

today. we must pass this today. i yield back the balance of my time thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: madam speaker, on that i yield four minutes to the distinguished whip, the gentleman from maryland. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized for four minutes. mr. hoyer: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman from new york for yielding. i spoke yesterday on this issue. my good friend, mr. goodlatte, and i have talked a number of times about this. in 1995 as i said yesterday i voted for an amendment very similar to this, almost exactly alike. and i had a confidence at that point in time that in an emergency 3/5 of us would come together and vote to do that which the country needed to keep it stable and safe. regrettably over the 16 years i

have lost that confidence. i have lost that confidence this year. where, frankly, on the majority side of the aisle we would not have passed a c.r. to keep the government opened once. we wouldn't have passed it a second time. and very frankly had we had to rely on the votes solely of the majority side, as we have in the past on my side, we would not -- we would have defaulted on our debt. that is not a good context in which to adopt an amendment that puts the country at risk if 3/5 are not available. to act in an emergency. as a result i will not vote for this. i urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. we are engaged at this very day in an effort to try to come to

agreement on how we balance the budget. and very fnkly we only need 51%. and 51% is not there. but we have balanced the budget and we balanced it without an amendment. we balanced it in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001. my republican colleagues rightfully say, well, we offered those budgets. yes, they did. but i will tell you i have no doubt, not a single doubt, that if the surpluses that were created by those budgets had been available in 1998 and bill clinton had not said, save social security first, that what we would have done is cut revenues deeply and had deficits during those four years. u may disagree. but i have no doubt based upon

the philosophy that i have heard since 1981 from my republican friends that that would have been the case. i said yesterday that what we need is not a balanced budget amendment, what we need is a balanced budget. how do we get to a balanced budget? i don't know his name and i apologize for that, but my friend who was the county commissioner, mr. latta, mr. latta pointed out he was the coty commissioner. now, i bet as county commissioner he probably had to pay for what he bought. and he gave the analogy if you got x coming in and you got -- that's what you spend. not x plus y. the fact of the matter is, his party has spent x plus y, plus z, plus a, plus b, plus c. and has run a deficit for every

single year they had the presidency during the last 30 years i have been in the congress. without fail. now, what happened to bring us a balanced budget? first of all we had two parties responsible. i don't think we could have done it with just one party, my party or your party. we had two parti responsible. and we constrained one another. an then we had an extraordinary growth in our econo. that's what brought us a balanced budget. but we also adopted in 1990, again in 1993, and in 1997, and i tell my good friend the sponsor of this, sometimes he voted for pay-go, and sometimes he did not. and your party abandoned the principle of paying for what you bought in 2001. may i have one additional minute? mr. nadler: the gentleman yielded an additional minute. mr. hoyer: of abandoning that pay-go responsibility you could

cut revenues very deeply and not pay for it. not cut spending. it takes no courage, i suggest to my friends, to cut taxes. none whatsoever. everybody's happy. paying for bills is a lot tougher. requires a lot more courage. a lot more responsibility. but you jettisoned statutory pay-go in 2000 and you went on a spending binge. not only did you blow a hole in the deficit, but you also blew a hole in the economy. and we saw the worst job creation of any administration since herber hoover. -- herbert hoover, because the economy rightfully was not confident that we would manage our finances correctly. what we need, ladies and gentlemen, in this house is a balanced budget. not a balanced budget amendment.

let us summon the courage, the will, and the ability to work together immediately in this committee, this select committee on deficit reduction, but let us do it day after day after day. and when the issues come before you, have the courage to either vote against spending or vote for the revenues to pay for the cars you wanted to buy. i thank the gentlelady for the time. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair would ask members to avoid references in the second person. the gentleman from virginia. mr. goodlatte: madam speaker, i yield myself a minute to respond to the distinguished minority whip and to point out this chart. the gentleman is quite right when he talks about profligacy when there has been republican congresses, although i would point out to the gentleman that when we were in the majority and

we had president bill clinton and we had those four balanced budgets, he voted for one but not three others of them, but we did not cut taxes then. taxes were cut, taxes were cut afr the attack on this country, september 11, 2001, to stimulate the economy. now, we got roundly criticized for the deficits that ran up during that time. and this chart shows that in 2004 -- mr. hoyer: will the gentleman yield? mr. goodlatte: in 2004 we had a $400 billion deficit. it was the highest deficit in american history, and it was part of the reason why we lost our majority later on. and in 2007, as the deficit stepped down each of the interceding years, in 2007 the gentlen became the majority leader and the the gentlewoman from california became the speaker of the house, and look what happened to our defits.

ever since the congress writes budgets, the congress doesn't balance budgets. both parties are to blame. in the last 50 years six balanced budgets in 50 years. 37 of those years democrats. they only balanced it twice. this is a bipartisan balanced budget amendment that the gentleman voted for once before. he should join us today and set the future on a different track. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. hoyer: the gentleman i tell you has no time to yield. mr. goodlatte: i don't. i have all these people. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: i yield 30 seconds to the distinguished whip. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. hoyer: and he says about voting for butts. i didn't agree with some of the priorities in our budgets. that's accurate. and he's correct. we didn't cut taxes. but he's incorrect as to when you cut taxes. you cut taxes in april. months before 9/11.

and you gave away a lot of money and you didn't pay for it. you didn't cut spending in order to pay for it. in your budgets that you offered. furthermore, what the gentleman doesn't point out is in 1993, to a person, you voted against a program which was designed to pay our bills. to a person. and you said it would destroy the economy. we had the best economy and the largest budget surpluses we have had the administration is the only administration in your lifetime that ended in -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. . mr. goodlatte: mr. speaker, at this point i am delighted to yield two minutes to mr. barton. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. mr. barton: i'd ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. barton: and i thank the gentlelady from alabama for her chairmanship of this historic

debate and i thank the gentleman from virginia for his leadership and his willingness to yield me time. madam speaker, in 1985, in january, i held up my right nd, held my 2-year-old daughter in my left nd standing right out here in front of the podium, took the oath to be the congressman of the sixth congressional district of texas. as soon as i was sworn in i signed my first bill and put it right over there in the hopper, the tax limitation balanced budget andment. the deficit, the total federal debt that year was around -- i mean, the total public debt was less than $5 trillion. in january of 1995, i took the oath of office and then led the debate on the contract with america balanced budget amendment. we actually had two votes that day. one on the tax limitation

balanced budget amendment which got about 260-something votes, and then we came back and voted on a balanced budget amendment without the tax limitation provision and it passed and went to the senate. the public debt that day was a little under $8 trillion. well, today, the public debt is $15 trillion. $10 trillion than in january of 1985 and $8 trillion or $7 trillion more than in january of 1995. how many years do we have to stand here and bemoan the fact that we need more courage or more this or more that and then pile up more public debt? the annual deficit this year, the deficit in one year is more than the total fedel budget was in 1985.

the total budget. now, i want to thank mr. goodlatte for bringing this bill forward. i want to thank the republican leadership for putting it on the floor. we owe $15 trillion, madam speaker, and we're going to borrow another $1.5 trillion. let's stop the madness. let's vote for this amendment and send it to the senate. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: madam speaker, i yield -- i'm sorry -- i yield -- i ask that the gentleman be granted time for unanimous consent statement. be recognized for unanimous consent statement. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. johnson: yes, thank you, madam speaker. i have a unanimous consent request to submit the following two documents into the record. one is from the international association of fifighters, the other from the aarp, both

of which express their opposition to this ill-founded measure before us, house resolution 2. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the request is granted. the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: i now yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from massachusetts. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. markey: we do not need a constitutional amendment. we need a supercommittee congressional commitment now. to the republicans, do it now. call president obama now. tell him tax breaks for the billionaires on the table. tell them defense spending, on the table. tell him tax breaks for oil companies, on the table. the president says he'll put the social programs on the table. you don't have to go back 200 years to amend the constitution. you just have to next week, next wednesday say we want to do it now. we who are here will do it now. we will balance the budget by putting alof our programs on

the table. do it now. do it now, republicans. don't pretend and hide behind a constitutional amendment when u can do it now. you can be the founding fathers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from virginia. mr. goodlatte: noting that the republicans on the supercommittee have put a proposal on the tle and democrats have not, i now yield a minute and a half to the gentleman from illinois, mr. manzullo, a member of the financial services committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized for a minute and a half. mr. man sdemruleo: madam speaker, there are over -- mr. manzullo: madam speaker, there are over 10,000 federal programs and cnting. no one really quite knows how many there are. i do most of my work in congress on manufacturing. and for 12 years i've been working on a chart to identity fight every agency, every bureau that is involved somehow in manufacturing.

and it continues to grow and grow and grow. my object was to -- objective was to find a way with a common portalvia the internet to see. it's not possible. that's the problem with this governnt. a person says i have a program for this and for that. you know what, it's time to start eliminating programs around here. it's time to just keep those programs that are absolutely necessary, and the best way to do that is to have the fiscal restraint imposed by a balanced budget amendment. you can't go to the back room and cover this program and that program. we need to come to the realization that washington doesn't have the answer for everything. and the best way to cut back on

these 10,000 programs is to have the discipline of a balanced budget amendment so that the members of the house d the members of the senate can realize, you really can't spend more than what you take in. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from virginia. mr. goodlatte: madam speaker, how much time remains on each side? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia has four minutes remaining, and the gentleman from new york has -- 3/4. mr. goodlatte: it's my pleasure to yield 1 1/2 minut to the gentleman from arkansas, mr. womb ack, who is a -- mr. womack, who is a member of the appropriations committ. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arkansas is recognized for a minute and a half. mr. womack: madam speaker, it's payday, they are going to get a check from their employer if they are lucky enougho have a job. before cashing that check, they know exactly where it's going. these people have likely

already come to the realization that there are a lot more needs, a lot more things they'd like to have or do but there's just so much money. i find it incredible that my friends on the other side of the aisle believe this federal government should not have to go through the same process of discerning between what they want and what they need and what they can afford, like the rest of america. in the 10-plus months i've been here, i consider this vote t most important vote i will have cast because it's the vote that has the most impact on the future of my grandson. it is sad that congress does not have the discipline to live within its means, and i strongly believe t only way to constrain an undisciplined congress is to enshrine its obligation in the constitution. an overwhelming majority of americans believe that the balanced budget amendment, as proposed today, is the right way forward for america. i thank my friend, mr.

goodlatte, for h leadership on the issue, and i urge its passage, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: i'll research. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from virginia. mr. goodlatte: madam speaker, i'm pleased to yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from south carolina, mr. mulvaney, who is a a member of the house financial services committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south carolina is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mr. mulvaney: the debate is it isn't 1985. i wish it were. imagine if we could accomplish this 15 years ago. we have only passed budget four times in the last 50 years. that doesn't pass the laugh test. i heard from the honorable minority leader that this was not the right time to pass this amendment because somehow this body was too partisan, too

partisan to pass a bill to pass an amendment to the constitution that will take partisanship out of the equation and fce us to balance a budget. these are all extraordinarily weak argument, madam speaker, and they are weak because they do not go to the heart of the matter of why you'd be against this amendment. the only reason to be against this amendment, the only true argument to be against this amendment is you want to spend money we don't have. and there are people in this chamber who believe that is the way they keep their jobs. that if we continue to run up debt, if we continue to spend money we don't have is somehow back in their district it will encourage their voters to send them back to this chamber. madam chair woman, i believe there are more important things than our jobs. there are more important things than simply remaining a member of congress. more so than any amdment, any bill that we will take up this year, this amendment is the opportunity that we have to send to the send the message to people back home that we are willing to do what is right, that we're willing to stand up for them and to give tm the

opportunity to change the constitution of the united states in a way that they see fit. thank you, madam chair woman. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from virginia. mr. goodlatte: madam speaker, we have one speaker remaining so we'll reserves well. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: will the gentleman be the only closer? then i'll yield myself the balance of the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recogzed. mr. nadler: madam speaker, since 1995 when the amendment was last on the floor, we proved we could balance the budget without a balanced budget amendment. but e balanced budget amendment is not the highest goal. the highest goal is prosperity, a full employment economy, and that requires a balanced budget over the business cycle. it requires that in good times we balance the budget and pay down the -- we have a surplus and pay down the deficit. but that in recession you should have a deficit to spur the economy and spend money to spur the economy and get out of the recession.

to try to balance the budget by cutting spending during a recession is to increase unemployment, it's to guarantee that every recession becomes a depression. just look at what's happening in germany which is in pretty good shape until they elected a government that enact austerity, tried to balance a budget, their economy is tanking. the same thing in great britain. the second point i want to make is that when we talk about balanced budgets in the states, they have a separate budget for operating expenses and capital budgets. here this balanced budget amendment would y we should never borrow money for everything. the federal government should never borrow anything. that's insanity economically. that means we have no money for our bridges, roads, etc. third, this amendment would say if we couldn't reach agreement, if we couldn't pass a balanced budget, the courts would have to decide which taxes to raise

taxes and which programs to cut. we should not be giving the courts such power to make such decisions. finally, social security, medicare, these are not debts. they're obligations to the federal government. a balanced budget amendment would put them on the -- would put them at risk. we would have to cut back social security, cut medicare, cuall these things if we passed the balanced budget amendment. if we were unwilling, as our colleagues on e other side are, to raise taxes on the rich. and the fact taxes on the rich are much less than they've ever been which is the basic causes of the deficits that we're running now. the balanced budget amendment would not balance the budget. we would still have the stalemate between republicans who want no taxes on the rich and want draconian cuts on lower and middle-income programs and those on our side of the aisle who disagree with that. if you can't reach agreement on those things now in the supercommittee, what makes you think you would reach agreement just becauseou had a requirement on the books that

said you should? it would end up in court. the balanced budget amendment is simply a stop to say we are doing something about a balanced budget when we are unwilling to make the decisions to balance a budget. we showed during the clinton administraon those decisions could be made. and if we really want to balance the budget we have to undo most of the tax cuts. we should pal the bument, not pass an amendment. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from virginia. mr. goodlatte: madam speaker, i yield myself the balan of the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. gooled goode madam speaker, the gentleman from -- mr. goodlatte: one thing, prosperity is the goal. this is not the way to prosperity. 50 years with six balanced budgets has led to a $15 trillion debt that we have right now. that's not prosperity. the largest debtor nation on earth is not prosperity. the $50,000 per american citizen in debt is not

prosperity. but the $60 trillion in future obligations that we have yielding this result definitely not prosperity for our children and grandchildren. that is why we need the discipline that a balanced budget amendment to th constitution provides. that is why this is a bipartisan vote. that is why dozens of democrats will join us today in enshrining in our constitution something that will require that future congresses balance a budget. . >> coming up, "washington journal." we will take your questions and comments. then a discussion on the federal budget and the economy. then marco rubio talks about job creation. this morning, a look at the future of the occup