By: Creighton, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Shapiro) H.C.R. No. 18
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 14, 2011;
May 3, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on State
Affairs; May 13, 2011, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 7, Nays 2; May 13, 2011, sent to printer.)
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The gravity of federal debt and federal obligations
was established early in American history, with deficit occurring
only in relation to extraordinary circumstances, such as war; yet
for much of the 20th century and into the 21st, the United States
has operated on a budget deficit, including the 2010 budget year,
which surpassed an astounding $1.3 trillion, an annual deficit that
exceeded the entire gross state product of Texas; and
WHEREAS, The federal debt is greater than $14 trillion, a sum
that if shared equally by each person in America would be a burden
of over $45,000 per person, and yet the federal government
continues to accrue debt; 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, Many states have previously requested that Congress
propose a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget, but
Congress has proven to be unresponsive; 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 providing that except during a war
declared by the Congress of the United States pursuant to Article I,
Section 8, Clause 11, United States Constitution, or other national
emergency, the total of all federal appropriations for a fiscal
year may not exceed the total of all estimated federal revenue for
that fiscal year and providing for a spending limitation; 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.
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