Proposing An Amendment to the Constitution of the United States Requiring A Balanced Budget for the Federal Government
Floor Speech
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Mr. BIGGS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 139) proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States requiring a balanced budget for the Federal Government.
The Clerk read the title of the joint resolution.
The text of the joint resolution is as follows: H.J. Res. 139
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three- fourths of the several States: ``Article --
``Section 1. Total expenditures for a year shall not exceed the average annual receipts collected in the three prior years, adjusted in proportion to the changes in the population of citizens of the United States and inflation. Total expenditures shall include all expenditures of the United States except those for payment of debt, and receipts shall include all receipts of the United States except those derived from borrowing.
``Section 2. Congress may by a roll call vote of two-thirds of each House provide by law for specific expenditures in excess of the limit in section 1.
``Section 3. Congress may by a roll call vote provide by law for specific expenditures in excess of the limit in section 1 for any year in which a declaration of war is in effect.
``Section 4. Any bill to levy a new tax or to increase the rate of any tax shall not become law unless approved by two- thirds of the whole number of each House of Congress by a roll call vote.
``Section 5. Congress shall enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation.
``Section 6. This article shall take effect with the fifth year beginning after ratification.''.
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Mr. BIGGS of Arizona. Res. 139.
Mr. Speaker, today our national debt exceeds $38 trillion and grows second by second. On a per-person basis, the national debt amounts to $113,000 for every person living in the United States.
For generations, Congress has chosen to max out our national credit card and leave the bill to the next generation instead of having hard conversations about spending.
Families across our Nation have had these hard conversations, and they balance their budgets. The leaders of this Nation should do the same.
Americans know that debt comes with strings attached. Every dollar we spend beyond our means today is a dollar and change we must repay tomorrow. It is no different for government. The more America borrows, the more expensive every next borrowed dollar becomes.
Indeed, annual Federal spending on interest is now one of the largest line items we have. We spend more on interest than we do on Medicare. We spend more on interest than we do on national defense.
Republicans and Democrats may have different policy ideas and priorities, but surely we can all agree that a budget hamstrung by huge interest payments benefits nobody.
Our fiscal trajectory is alarming and unsustainable. Higher-than- expected interest rates or other challenges could trigger a debt spiral. It has happened to other countries throughout history.
Without changes, it will happen to us. The day of reckoning will come, and it will not be big and beautiful. It will be big and ugly.
There are two choices: spend a lot less on the future or spend a little less starting today. I choose the second option. That is why I support the balanced budget amendment. It is the only way to cement our commitment to long-term fiscal stability.
A 5-year path to balance will allow us to make prudent spending choices to gradually balance the budget and wean us from our reliance on deficit spending.
It is simple. The balanced budget amendment will restore fiscal sanity and take us off the path to an economic calamity.
But the balanced budget amendment will not merely beat back a future fiscal crisis. It will also reduce the cost of living here and now. The enormous Federal debt is currently driving up borrowing costs for all Americans. Mortgages, car payments, and student loans are all more expensive because of Congress' profligacy and irresponsibility.
We saw the disastrous effects of budget-busting deficit spending during the catastrophic 4 years of Biden-Harris rule. With the eager support of Democrats in Congress, the Biden-Harris administration approved $4.7 trillion in new deficit spending, ultimately racking up $8.5 trillion in new debt.
What did the average American get? The worst inflation in 40 years.
When Biden-Harris took over in January of 2021, inflation was just at 1.4 percent per annum. By the middle of the term, it exceeded 9 percent per annum.
Inflation is a tax on everyone, but we all know who it hurts the most: the poor, the working class, seniors on fixed incomes, and American families, who saw their expenses explode and their salaries stay flat.
Mr. Speaker, histrionics and misdirection won't cover the historical hypocrisy of the reckless spending of Democrats who now even choose to keep parts of the government shut down.
Under the Biden administration, the national debt grew by an unprecedented--unprecedented--$8.5 trillion.
By the way, this used to be a bipartisan issue. When the gentleman mentioned Bill Clinton, I think: Yeah, that is the last time everybody came together from both parties that actually produced a balanced budget.
The gentleman asks: Well, why don't Republicans do it now?
It is because we would like to invite the other side to do it with us. We would like to invite the other side to do it with us, but they don't want to do it with us.
In fact, the gentleman just basically announced that he would like to repeal the tax act and give us the largest tax increase in national history.
What did we get from the runaway spending of Joe Biden?
When Biden-Harris took over in January, inflation was at 1.4 percent. By the middle of the term it was over 9 percent. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act will reduce debt to GDP, flip primary deficits into surpluses by 2034, and reduce the deficit by about $4.5 trillion relative to the policy baseline prior to enactment, all of this while averting the largest tax hike in American history that my colleague across the aisle basically just announced they are going to enact upon the American people if they become the majority.
Democrats have proposed radical bills that far exceed the alleged cost of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Let us see what they have done. The Green New Deal will cost $93 trillion over 10 years. That is theirs. Their Medicare for All proposal will cost $32 trillion over 10 years.
Mr. Speaker, forgive me if I think they are projecting a bit on this one here. The simple truth is a balanced budget amendment would hold both parties accountable.
Mr. HARRIS of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, all Americans understand something very clear. We don't have a revenue problem with the Federal Government. We have a spending problem.
Congress has the power of the purse, but we have failed to exercise such authority responsibly. Our national debt currently stands as of this morning I understand at $39 trillion, which equals over $113,000 per citizen. This number grows as I speak and will not stop without radical action from Congress.
We have borrowed our children's futures to pay for programs we cannot afford, putting this country on the path to financial ruin. The only way forward is to set guardrails to ensure Congress can no longer spend money it does not have.
This balanced budget amendment to our Constitution simply prohibits total spending from exceeding the average tax revenue collected in the 3 years prior.
While critics may argue that reducing spending will somehow harm the economy, this amendment allows Congress 5 years to adapt to the new requirements. The amendment also sets a two-third majority voting requirement for any new taxes to prevent politicians from taking more of your money to spend rather than doing the hard work of fine-tuning our budget. Despite what some opponents might say, there is no way to tax our way out of this situation.
As I said at the beginning, all of America knows: There is a spending problem, not a revenue problem.
Mr. Speaker, I urge full support of this amendment. It is past time to balance our budget.
Mr. Speaker, I find that the argument that is presented by the gentleman from Maryland seems delusional at best--delusional at best.
This amendment doesn't target programs. It targets overspending. Congress must live within the revenue Americans already provide, and that is about $5.5 trillion a year. The two-thirds threshold applies to tax hikes, not program cuts. Receipts have been stable for decades. Spending is what is out of control. Spending is what is out of control, and they fail to acknowledge it.
What is delusional is for the Democrats to have the audacity to say that they are the party of fiscal responsibility when they are trying to impose the Green New Deal, $93 trillion over 10 years.
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Mr. BIGGS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, during the gentleman from Texas' recent comments, so recently given, the national debt rose by $125,000. Just keep that in mind.
Mr. Speaker, I will set the record straight on that history. It was very colorful but a little bit inaccurate. If you remember, it was the '96 budget that was balanced. It was balanced with all the Republicans and a plurality of Democrats. It would have been nice if it would have been unanimous, wouldn't it? It would have been nice, but we couldn't get there.
Perhaps all the rhetoric you have heard today is political partisanship. It is posturing from that side of the aisle over there and maybe some from us because it is a bipartisan problem.
I think the previous speaker just said what are the odds of us ever just doing it on our own. That is right. Hell froze over once about 30 years ago. Are we going to wait 30 years again until the structural deficit exceeds $5 trillion a year when we actually have a national debt that is somewhere north of $100 trillion?
We are not going to last that long. We need to do this now.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's comments. I think in one sense he is right on the money. Both parties can share in the blame of this massive, structural national debt we have, but I will point out that in 2001 when taxes were cut, something happened in 2001 which changed the trajectory of the entire Nation, and we are still dealing with the fallout.
You will remember it. We called that 9/11, right? Some things happened in 2001, which changed our spending. That is important to recall.
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Mr. BIGGS of Arizona. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, hyperbole and sophistry right here on the floor of the House from politicians, who would have thunk it? Really, who would have thunk it? I get a big kick out of that.
Do you know what the national debt was when Barack Obama became President? It was $8 trillion. Do you know what it was when he left? It was $20 trillion.
Do you know what the gentleman from Maryland did? He defended every wild-eyed, anticonstitutional program and every abuse of the First Amendment under the Biden administration. When you had reporters being castigated, investigated, and prosecuted, not a peep from him. Not a peep, but, boy golly, he is going to come up here and attack President Trump. That is what he is going to do, and then he has the audacity to talk about abasement--abasement of this body, and to say that we have absolute control over all three bodies.
I wish we did. That would mean that we had 60 Republican Senators in the Senate. Quite frankly, I have a major problem with that because that is a supermajoritarian body under the cloture rule. That wasn't contemplated by the Founders either. They thought it would be a simple majority.
The rationale for his argument is that James Madison and Alexander Hamilton wouldn't have said it, but do you know what? James Madison and Alexander Hamilton would have said that we are not going to have direct elections of Senators. They are going to be elected by their State legislature.
That rationale doesn't make sense in this argument. It is specious and weak. That is the rationale that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are throwing at us today.
The gentleman said that we have never needed a balanced budget amendment before. Perhaps he is correct, but we sure have a massive structural deficit today. We have a structural deficit because, even though we bring in a record amount--a record amount--of revenue, we keep spending more. This body doesn't have the political will.
That is the point that our side has been making. We don't have the political will, not on our side or the minority's side. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to turn this constantly into a partisan affair. I am saying that both sides have recklessly spent too much--both sides.
Madam Speaker, do you know who is punished by it? It is not us. It is not us. It is the American people. It is the American people who are taking the burden of feckless, blind spending and reckless spending.
Even if you get the record amount of revenue, this body is not going to make a concomitant amount of spending. It is going to spend more. It will always spend more. We will always spend more. Only if we have a balanced budget amendment, which, by the way, used to be a bipartisan issue.
It used to be a bipartisan issue on the national debt and deficit. Both parties' national security leaders used to say that that is our number one security threat. I mean for 25 years, a generation or more.
Madam Speaker, we don't hear that today from my colleagues. It is too bad. I wish we did. Man, I wish we did. I wish we could both say: Let's put this together. It is delusional. It is delusional. The fact of the matter is that what was spent during COVID--massive amounts, literally trillions of dollars--without any productive capacity to go with it fueled the Biden-era inflation, and we are dealing with that today.
Oddly enough, the inflation rate under President Trump is back down to almost what it was when he left. That is the reality.
How about my Democratic colleagues saying that we are going to put in the Green New Deal program. Remember that one? Yes. It was $93 trillion worth of spending with no pay-for over a 10-year period. It was $93 trillion.
Medicare for all, $33 trillion over a 10-year period, no pay-for.
Madam Speaker, do you know what the pay-for is? We are going to print more money. We are going to print more money, and do you know what that does? It devalues your currency. By the way, the valuation of currency is the classic definition of ``inflation'' because you can't buy as much with the same dollar. You are always going to need more.
People think that we have seen hyperinflation. We haven't seen hyperinflation. Do you know when we are going to see hyperinflation? We are going to see hyperinflation when the bond markets start saying: Guess what. You guys are effectively bankrupt, and we are not lending you any more money.
That is when the big calamity hits. When that hits, there won't be anybody here who can say that this is a partisan issue. Both parties will be at fault.
I pray to God that both sides here today will vote for this amendment. Get it to the people. Let the people actually impose upon us what 49 States have, and that is a requirement for a balanced budget. If we couldn't print our own money, we would have already collapsed.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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