The Trojan Horse Balanced Budget Amendment

Floor Speech

Ms. MOORE. Later on today we will be considering the so-called balanced budget amendment. And while I join my colleagues in sharing the view that we need to gain control of our national debt, I rise to commiserate our loss of a balanced perspective on what we, as elected Representatives of the people of the United States of America, regard as assets and liabilities on our American Government balance sheet. I am appalled, Mr. Speaker, at our loss of perspective on what good government really means as we balance our policy priorities in this moral document, our budget.

Mr. Speaker, we have perverted the concept of a healthy balance sheet as we worship at the feet of a religion that tones that government should be limited and, perhaps, have no role in the health, welfare, and safety of the American people.

Balancing the budget sounds so simple, so appealing, but that's not a truthful description of what this balanced budget amendment would do. This amendment is nothing more than a Trojan horse hiding the Republicans' true ambition, which is requiring major cuts to vital programs, dramatically shrinking the legitimate role of government, and enshrining this agenda in the United States Constitution.

A balanced budget? A balance sheet contains both assets and liabilities.

I would submit, Mr. Speaker, that it is a perversion of our American values to see our children, our future, as mere liabilities; our students, who need the government to invest in their higher educations, as mere liabilities; our communities, the economic engines of our economy who may be subjected to natural disasters such as hurricanes and other liabilities, who need to rebuild modern transportation systems, to see these as mere liabilities; and American folks, who need to breathe clean air and drink clean water, as mere liabilities on the Federal Government balance sheet.

According to an analysis released this week by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the amendment we are considering today would force cuts to all programs by an average of 17.3 percent by 2018. And if revenues are not raised, which there seems to be an anathema to doing that, all these programs will be cut by the same percentage. Social Security cut by $184 billion in 2018 alone; Medicare cut by $117 billion in 2018; Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program cut by $80 billion in 2018.

We have constructed a balance sheet where our people are not viewed as assets. Our American universities, our students, the next generation of inventions and innovators are seen as welfare recipients when we provide them with Pell Grants. Seniors who have earned retirement security are now seen as a drain on our system. These seniors who built our economy through their ingenuity and sweat, Medicare and Social Security for them is seen as socialism.

Mr. Speaker, we have heard the constant drumbeat demanding that we severely restrain the benefits and the rights we provide to our seniors and our people. And what do we regard as our assets on our balance sheet? Our bloated, cold war-era military buildup.

And what kind of balance sheet, Mr. Speaker, expends trillions of dollars on tax breaks to millionaires and expatriate corporations and treats revenue loss needed for the legitimate operation of the government like assets?

This is a balance sheet reminiscent of a corporate raider that strips down all of the assets and leaves the company limping lifeless in the dust.

What kind of country lauds a balanced budget that achieves this balance on the backs of children, students, working class families, the disabled, the hungry, the infirm, the elderly, the environment, victims of natural disasters, and wounded veterans returning to unemployment and a jobless economy? Is this a balanced budget, Mr. Speaker, or is this our unbalanced priorities?

Mr. Speaker, I thank you for your indulgence in listening to me today.

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