Rosen: Balancing Our Budget Shouldn't Mean Breaking Our Promise to Nevada's Seniors

Press Release

Congresswoman Jacky Rosen (NV-03) announced that on Wednesday, April 11th, she co-sponsored H.J.Res.107, a constitutional amendment to balance the budget without cutting Medicare or Social Security. On Thursday, Rosen voted against the Republican Balanced Budget Amendment, H.J.Res.2, that failed to advance because it would not have protected Medicare and Social Security. The national debt now exceeds $21 trillion.

"Just a few months ago, Republicans in Congress exploded the deficit with their fiscally irresponsible tax giveaway to giant corporations and the ultra-wealthy," said Rosen. "Now, after adding more than $1 trillion to the national debt, these same Republican politicians are trying to pay for their tax bill on the backs of our seniors. I'm supporting a constitutional amendment that would require Congress to address our skyrocketing national debt by agreeing to a balanced budget, while still protecting Social Security and Medicare from cuts. These are programs that our seniors have paid into their whole lives, and these promises must be kept."

BACKGROUND: The constitutional amendment co-sponsored by Rep. Rosen requires the President to annually submit to Congress a budget in which total outlays do not exceed total receipts. It also prohibits federal total outlays for a fiscal year from exceeding total receipts for that fiscal year, excluding Medicare and Social Security, unless Congress authorizes the excess by a vote of three-fifths of the members of each chamber. This amendment prohibits a court from ordering Social Security and Medicare payments to be cut in order for Congress to comply with this amendment.

The balanced budget requirement does not apply if a declaration of war is in effect or if the United States is engaged in military conflict which causes an imminent and serious military threat to national security, or if during the fiscal year or preceding fiscal year the U.S. economy grew by less than 0 percent in real gross domestic product during two or more consecutive quarters, or if the unemployment rate has been more than 7 percent during two or more consecutive months.

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