The Balanced Budget Amendment is good for America's families because it means reduced interest rates and a lower cost of living. It will help safeguard Social Security and Medicare while protecting future generations from crushing debt.

All GOP Senators are uniting today to sponsor a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget. The key provision of the balanced budget amendment says, "Total outlays for any fiscal year shall not exceed total receipts for that fiscal year, unless three-fifths of the whole number of each House of Congress shall provide by law for a specific excess of outlays over receipts by a rollcall vote." This means a balanced budget will be the constitutional norm: outlays may exceed receipts only if at least 60 Senators and at least 261 Representatives approve a "specific excess" by rollcall vote.

Overwhelming Support from the American People

The American people are strong supporters of a balanced budget constitutional amendment. For example, in a Gallup poll published in the May 22, 1996, USA Today, 83 percent of Americans favored a balanced budget amendment and just 14 percent opposed it. Thomas Jefferson would approve; he said, "Public debt is the greatest of dangers to be feared by a republican government."

Last Congress, a balanced budget constitutional amendment passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 300-to-132, easily exceeding the necessary two-thirds majority. However, the Senate failed twice to pass the BBA, once by only one vote. Six Democrats who had voted for the balanced budget amendment in the 103rd Congress voted against it in the last Congress.

While the President has no formal role in the amendment process, President Clinton -- unlike his two predecessors -- actively opposed a balanced budget constitutional amendment.

Some Fiscal Facts to Keep in Mind

In 1962, the Federal Government's budget reached $100 billion for the first time. By 1971 it had doubled to $200 billion. By 1977, it had doubled again. In 1983, the Federal budget topped $800 billion. The budget for fiscal year 1997 is more than $1.6 trillion.

Because spending has far exceeded revenues, the federal government will spend $240 billion just to pay for interest on the federal debt -- that is nearly $1,000 for every man, woman, and child in America.

Almost 40 cents of every dollar collected in income taxes goes just to pay interest costs.

We are paying nearly as much for interest costs as we are for all domestic discretionary spending. In short, we are paying nearly as much to service the debt as we are for all law enforcement, education, environment, energy, transportation, agriculture, technology, and many other areas of spending combined.

In 1950, there were 7.3 persons in the work force for every retiree. In the year 2050, there will be about 2.7 persons in the work force for every person over age 65.

Persons born in 1900 paid about 24 percent of their income in federal, state, and local net taxes. (Net taxes are taxes taken from individuals minus transfers given to the individual.) Persons born in 1970 will pay about 34 percent of their income in net taxes. Under current policies, persons born in 1994 and thereafter will bear a net tax rate of 84 percent!

Opponents Willing to Risk Social Security

In a devious and dangerous game, opponents of the BBA are trying to get around voting "nay" by insisting on a provision to exclude Social Security receipts and expenditures from calculations of a balanced budget. While claiming to promote a balanced budget by 2002 and protect Social Security, they do neither, but rather do the very opposite.

By taking Social Security outside the fiscal discipline of the budget, they simultaneously remove the fiscal responsibility to fix the system because that account -- which will run a deficit in 2012 -- will adversely affect retirees and the country as a whole, but will have no impact on the official deficit. This is dangerous because the longer the fix is delayed, the more difficult and painful the ultimate solution must be.

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