Texas 2011 - 82nd Regular

Texas House Bill HCR18 Compare Versions

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1	1	By: Creighton, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Shapiro) H.C.R. No. 18
2	2	(In the Senate - Received from the House April 14, 2011;
3	3	May 3, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on State
4	4	Affairs; May 13, 2011, reported favorably by the following vote:
5	5	Yeas 7, Nays 2; May 13, 2011, sent to printer.)
6	6
7	7
8	8	HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
9	9	WHEREAS, The gravity of federal debt and federal obligations
10	10	was established early in American history, with deficit occurring
11	11	only in relation to extraordinary circumstances, such as war; yet
12	12	for much of the 20th century and into the 21st, the United States
13	13	has operated on a budget deficit, including the 2010 budget year,
14	14	which surpassed an astounding $1.3 trillion, an annual deficit that
15	15	exceeded the entire gross state product of Texas; and
16	16	WHEREAS, The federal debt is greater than $14 trillion, a sum
17	17	that if shared equally by each person in America would be a burden
18	18	of over $45,000 per person, and yet the federal government
19	19	continues to accrue debt; and
20	20	WHEREAS, The higher the deficit, the more the government must
21	21	spend on paying interest on the debt; compounding the problem is the
22	22	use of deficit spending, which becomes a responsibility for future
23	23	generations of Americans to assume without their consent; and
24	24	WHEREAS, Congress has attempted to set budgetary restraints
25	25	for itself in the form of a balanced budget amendment; the proposal
26	26	won wide support in 1995, failing by only one vote in the senate;
27	27	and
28	28	WHEREAS, Many states have previously requested that Congress
29	29	propose a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget, but
30	30	Congress has proven to be unresponsive; and
31	31	WHEREAS, This growing burden of public debt is a threat to the
32	32	nation's economic health, and action must be taken to restore
33	33	fiscal responsibility; a balanced budget amendment would require
34	34	the government not to spend more than it receives in revenues and
35	35	compel lawmakers to carefully consider choices about spending and
36	36	taxes; by encouraging spending control and discouraging deficit
37	37	spending, a balanced budget amendment will help put the nation on
38	38	the path to lasting prosperity; now, therefore, be it
39	39	RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas
40	40	hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to
41	41	propose and submit to the states for ratification an amendment to
42	42	the United States Constitution providing that except during a war
43	43	declared by the Congress of the United States pursuant to Article I,
44	44	Section 8, Clause 11, United States Constitution, or other national
45	45	emergency, the total of all federal appropriations for a fiscal
46	46	year may not exceed the total of all estimated federal revenue for
47	47	that fiscal year and providing for a spending limitation; and, be it
48	48	further
49	49	RESOLVED, That the Texas Secretary of State forward official
50	50	copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
51	51	the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the
52	52	senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the
53	53	Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this
54	54	resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a
55	55	memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.
56	56	* * * * *