mr. lankford. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized for one minute. mr. lankford: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. lankford: i would remind us in a time in 1861 when our nation stood at the press pus of the civil war and the oratories stood in a bloodshed. the director of the u.s. mint was to create a new inscription to u.s. coins. he said no nation could be strong except in the strength of god. the director of the mint responded back with a variation of the phrase that he pulled out from the star spangled banner, so our motto is in god we trust. since it was a similar hymn and indicative of the american people, it was later put on a two cent coin at the end of the civil war. it's not some isolated incident of the american dream. francis scott key, whether it was world war i or ii or the cold war fighting communism trying to set the united states apart from other nations around the world is unique, our founding fathers and our founding documents are based around this statement. we are

mr. lankford. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized for one minute. mr. lankford: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. lankford: i would remind us in a time in 1861 when our nation stood at the press pus of the civil war and the oratories stood in a bloodshed. the director of the u.s. mint was to create a new inscription to u.s. coins. he said no nation could be strong except in the strength of god. the director of the mint responded back with a variation of the phrase that he pulled out from the star spangled banner, so our motto is in god we trust. since it was a similar hymn and indicative of the american people, it was later put on a two cent coin at the end of the civil war. it's not some isolated incident of the american dream. francis scott key, whether it was world war i or ii or the cold war fighting communism trying to set the united states apart from other nations around the world is unique, our founding fathers and our founding documents are based around this statement. we are

mr. lanching ford, who is a -- lankford. mr. lankford: 27 times united states constitution has been amended. something we do rarely and something we should think through in the process. we do it only because it is absolutely required and we have common agreement across the house, senate and the american people. this is one of those moments. if you ask every american on the street, should we balance our budget, they will nod your head. if you ask them again, should we force congress to balance the budget? again, they will say yes, this is something we should do. there is common agreement across the american people. it's common sense. it's hard to explain why they have to balance their budget and congress does not. ultimate exemption that they can spend as much as they want as often they would like without any retribution. i hear statements that if we balanced the budget what would happen if we had to live within our means. makes me smile and say, just like every business, every family, we have to make hard choice is and we have to

mr. lankford. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized for one minute. mr. imous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. lankford: i would remind us in a time in 1861 when our nation stood at the press pus of the civil war and the oratories stood in a loodshed. the director of the u.s. mint was to create a new scription to u.s. coins. he said no nation could be strong except in the strength of god. the director of the mint responded back with a variation of the phrase that he pulled out from the star spangled banner, so our motto is in god we trust. since it was a similar hymn and indicative of the american people, it was later put on a two cent coin at the end of the civil war. it's not some isolated incident of themerican dream. francis scott key, whether it was world war i or ii or the cold war fighting communism trying to set the united states apart from other nations around the world is unique, our founding fathers and our unding documents are based around this statement. we are given our rights from god i

mr. lanching ford, who is a -- lankford. mr. lankford: 27 times united states constitution has been amended. something we do rarely and something we should think through in the process. we do it only because it is absolutely required and we have common agreement across the house, senate and the american people. this is one of those moments. if you ask every american on the street, should we balance our budget, they will nod your head. if you ask them again, should we force congress to balance the budget? again, they will say yes, this is something we should do. there is common agreement across the american people. it's common sense. it's hard to explain why they have to balance their budget and congress does not. ultimate exemption that they can spend as much as they want as often they would like without any retribution. i hear statements that if we balanced the budget what would happen if we had to live within our means. makes me smile and say, just like every business, every family, we have to make hard choice is and we have to

mr. lankford: madam speaker, in my district we disagree a lot about football, but we strongly agree that the federal government must balance its budget. as a freshman i have seen firsthand this body will only make the hard decision when is they have to make the hard decisions. though we don't agree, that we need to balance a budget every time and every place, we do understand that as a federal budget over the course of a year we must balance our budget. we don't do that because the constitution doesn't require it. it's time to change that reality. in 1995 this body overwhelmingly approved a simple balanced budget amendment and it required that if we would balance our budget each year. it failed in the senate by one vote. passing overwhelmingly in the house. if it had passed both bodies, we would have passed the budget by 2005. our total debt in 2005 was $7.5 trillion. it is now $15 trillion. . now we stand here debating if this is a good approach. they should not berate the 2011 in passing onto their generation an even bigger debt. let's build a wall around our federal checkbook and pass

mr. lankford: as we talk about jobs in america, let's talk about a positive story. oklahoma city. ranked yesterday as the number one best employment rate in america among cities of a million or more. in our federal system of government, states and cities compete for excellence and the result is a terrific city like oklahoma city. what made it work? great state and local leadership, people who love to work, commonsense regulations locally, business owners who build great businesses and a great community. in oklahoma city you see, we have traditional and new energy production working well side by side. community banks that work through the regulatory maze and do commercial lending. we have reasonable real estate development. trucking and manufacturing for all times of products. military and civilian work force who work together, small business owners and employees who love to serve our community. pro-business, pro-family laws and regulations. there is something our nation could learn from a city like oklahoma city. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpo