By: Creighton H.C.R. No. 18
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, For much of the 20th century and into the 21st, the
United States has operated on a budget deficit, and it is estimated
that the deficit for 2010 was $1.3 trillion; and
WHEREAS, The higher the deficit, the more the government must
spend on paying interest on the debt; compounding the problem is the
use of deficit spending, which becomes a responsibility for future
generations of Americans to assume without their consent; and
WHEREAS, Congress has attempted to set budgetary restraints
for itself in the form of a balanced budget amendment; the proposal
won wide support in 1995, failing by only one vote in the senate;
and
WHEREAS, This growing burden of public debt is a threat to the
nation's economic health, and action must be taken to restore
fiscal responsibility; a balanced budget amendment would require
the government not to spend more than it receives in revenues and
compel lawmakers to carefully consider choices about spending and
taxes; by encouraging spending control and discouraging deficit
spending, a balanced budget amendment will help put the nation on
the path to lasting prosperity; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to
propose and submit to the states for ratification an amendment to
the United States Constitution to provide for a federal balanced
budget; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas Secretary of State forward official
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the
senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the
Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this
resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.