The Oklahoman - 3 Oklahoma U.S. Lawmakers Insist on Balanced Budget

News Article

By: Chris Casteel

As President Barack Obama and congressional leaders struggle to reach agreement on a deficit-reduction deal, three Oklahoma lawmakers have pledged not to back any increase in the nation's debt ceiling without a balanced-budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, and Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, have signed the so-called "cut, cap and balance" pledge, as has Rep. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma City.

Lankford, a freshman, gave an impassioned speech on the House floor on Monday saying the debt was driving the nation's economic and foreign policy decisions.

"We work to manipulate banks, mortgage lending, manufacturing, because we must keep revenue up," he said. "We carefully manage every relationship worldwide because we need the borrowing liquidity."

Minutes after Obama renewed his call for a "balanced approach" to solving the debt problems -- meaning new revenues paired with spending cuts -- Lankford said the necessary approach was a balanced-budget amendment.

"This is a bipartisan problem," he said. "We all point fingers at each other, but we all know both parties made promises with no plan to pay for it. So since we know that, why don't we also agree to a bipartisan solution?"

A balanced-budget amendment would require the approval of two-thirds support in the House and Senate. The House got the necessary votes in 1995, but the proposed amendment failed narrowly in the Senate, which was then under Republican control.

So far, 35 House Republicans and 12 Senate Republicans have signed a pledge to oppose any debt-limit increase that doesn't cut spending, cap it by law and include a balanced-budget amendment.

None of the top congressional leaders have signed the pledge; neither they, nor the president has mentioned it as one of the points under negotiation to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling.

Inhofe said in a speech last week he wouldn't vote for a deal that didn't include a balanced-budget amendment. Some Senate Democrats argued last week that a constitutional amendment wasn't necessary to balance the budget, and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., urged GOP colleagues not to insist on an amendment now.

Lankford said Monday he supports an amendment because it "settles the issue forever that we will live within our means.

"While this body should be able to make tough choices, we all know full well this body will make the tough choices only when it has to," Lankford said. "It's always been that way; it always will be that way."

Source