Cochran: Balanced Budget Amendment Offers Structure to Help Control Federal Expenditures
Press Release
Senate Republicans United Behind Balanced Budget Legislation
U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) today discussed his support for a new constitutional Balanced Budget Amendment that would force the U.S. Congress to make the difficult choices required to save the nation from a perpetual debt crisis.
Cochran, vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, is part of a unanimous Senate Republican conference that is sponsoring Balanced Budget Amendment legislation that will be considered as part of an ongoing debate on the debt limit and federal budget.
"I believe that as a nation, we have reached a point where we must embrace enforceable measures to control government expenditures. The proposed Balanced Budget Amendment provides such a structure," Cochran said.
"We simply cannot continue on our current path. The immediate and long term debt crisis facing the United States threatens our economic and social well-being. The continuing debate on how to couple the debt limit increase with spending reductions is indicative of how difficult it is for any Congress to make the hard choices necessary to improve our fiscal situation," Cochran said. "Passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment won't eliminate the need for Congress and the President to make those hard choices in the coming weeks, but it will help compel responsible policies in the future to ensure that our country does not again find itself in such a perilous fiscal position."
The proposed constitutional amendment would, among other things:
* Require the President to submit a balanced budget
* Require Congress to pass a balanced budget
* Restrict federal spending to 18 percent of the Gross Domestic Product
* Require two-thirds majority votes in the House and Senate to raise taxes
* Require a new three-fifths majority vote in both houses of Congress to raise the debt limit
The amendment outlines exceptions that would occur during military conflicts. The amendment would become effective in the fifth fiscal year after ratification by the states.
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