As we count down the hours until the deficit-reduction supercommittee officiallly declares failure, Congresswoman Candy Miller has been speaking out in favor of a Balanced Budget Amendment that would impose far more severe spending cuts than anything the supercommittee was contemplating. It would also create new supermajority requirements in Congress designed to block tax hikes and increases to the federal debt ceiling.
Here’s what Miller, a Harrison Township Republican, said on the House floor:
“Our Constitution is certainly the greatest governing document ever created by man. It is the bedrock foundation for this, the United States, the greatest nation on earth. Our Founding Fathers in their genius provided us with a way to amend the Constitution to deal with a changing world. James Madison, who is widely seen as the Father of the Constitution once said, ‘A public debt is a public curse.’
“In 1995, this House passed a very similar Balanced Budget Amendment. …The amendment received 300 votes in this House, but fell just one vote short in the United States Senate. Since that time our national debt has grown by over $9 trillion, including nearly $4 trillion in new debt in just the last three years. And today the debt is over $15 trillion.
“The fact of the matter is our public debt has become the public curse of which Madison warned us. The American people understand this level of debt is not sustainable and that is why they overwhelmingly support this balance budget amendment. Today, we have a choice. Do we answer the call of the American people and embrace fiscal responsibility, or do we continue the status quo of more spending, more borrowing and more debt? It is time for this Congress to use the tools our Founding Fathers gave us to amend the Constitution to save further generations from the shackles of unsustainable debt.”
