Bill Text: GA SR766 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: U.S. Congress; urged to adopt/submit to states a balanced budget amendment to U.S. Constitution and balance current budget
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 6-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2012-03-13 - House Second Readers [SR766 Detail]
Download: Georgia-2011-SR766-Enrolled.html
12 LC 34 3372S (SCS)
Senate
Resolution 766
By:
Senators Hill of the 32nd, Rogers of the 21st, Loudermilk of the 52nd, Mullis of
the 53rd, Shafer of the 48th and others
ADOPTED
SENATE
A
RESOLUTION
Urging
the United States Congress to adopt and to submit to the states a balanced
budget amendment to the United States Constitution and to balance our current
budget; and for other purposes.
WHEREAS,
the gravity of federal debt and federal obligations was established early in
American history with deficits occurring only in relation to extraordinary
circumstances, such as war; and
WHEREAS,
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; and
WHEREAS,
the federal debt is greater than $16 trillion, a sum that if shared equally by
each person in America would be a burden of over $45,000.00 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; and
WHEREAS,
compounding the debt 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, which won wide support in 1995, failing by only one
vote in the United States Senate; and
WHEREAS,
many states have previously requested that Congress propose a constitutional
amendment requiring a balanced budget; and
WHEREAS,
the growing burden of public debt is a threat to this nation's economic health,
and action must be taken to restore fiscal responsibility; and
WHEREAS,
a balanced budget amendment would require the federal government not to spend
more than it receives in revenues and compel lawmakers to carefully consider
choices about spending and taxes; and
WHEREAS,
by encouraging spending control and discouraging deficit spending, a balanced
budget amendment will help put this nation on the path to lasting prosperity;
and
WHEREAS,
in the meantime, Congress should take the appropriate steps to adopt for the
current year and subsequent fiscal years a balanced budget so that the nation
will live within its means and thereby allow us to begin to reduce our massive
accumulation of debt.
NOW,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY that the members of this body
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 of the 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 also providing for a spending
limitation.
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the members of this body respectfully urge the Congress
of the United States to begin adopting balanced budgets starting with this
fiscal year.
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Senate is authorized and directed
to transmit an appropriate copy 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
Georgia congressional delegation with a request that this resolution be
officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of
the United States of America.
