Bill Text: MO HCR45 | 2012 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Petitions the United States Congress to propose a federal balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-03-08 - Referred: Budget (H) [HCR45 Detail]
Download: Missouri-2012-HCR45-Introduced.html
SECOND REGULAR SESSION
House Concurrent Resolution No. 45
96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES SOMMER (Sponsor) AND NOLTE (Co-sponsor).
WHEREAS, this nation has become deeply in debt as its expenditures have exceeded available revenues; and
WHEREAS, efforts in Congress to amend the Constitution of the United States to add a balanced budget requirement have not been successful; and
WHEREAS, attempts to curtail federal spending, confine expenditures to available revenues, and reduce the annual deficit have met with only limited success; and
WHEREAS, the federal budget fails to reflect actual spending because of the exclusion of special outlays that are neither included in the budget nor subject to the legal public debt limit; and
WHEREAS, knowledgeable planning requires that the budget reflect all federal spending and that the budget be in balance; and
WHEREAS, the requirement to balance the budget will promote responsibility at the federal level, provide checks against unnecessary and costly appropriations, and reinforce efforts to bring about fiscal integrity; and
WHEREAS, the current national debt is over $15.4 trillion, a cost of approximately $49,400 for each man, woman, and child in the United States, and is growing at an alarming rate; and
WHEREAS, the national debt has continued to increase an average of 4 billion dollars per day since September 28, 2007; and
WHEREAS, for 2011, the Congressional Budget Office projected that, if current laws remain unchanged, the federal budget would show a deficit of close to $1.5 trillion, or a national deficit equal to nearly 10% of the country's entire economic output, one of the largest shares of entire economic output this country has experienced since 1945; and
WHEREAS, if the White House budget projections come to pass, the national debt will exceed the current gross domestic product of the United States by December 2012; and
WHEREAS, this spending has created national security concerns that the total interest expense on the debt due by the federal government for federal fiscal year 2010 alone, approximately $414 billion, is almost eight times greater than the 2010 fiscal year budget of the Department of Homeland Security of $55.3 billion; and
WHEREAS, equally as concerning, foreign-owned debt accounted for approximately 31% of the total federal debt as of February 2012, and foreigners are, therefore, in a unique position of authority with respect to the United States; and
WHEREAS, credit agencies have already downgraded the nation's AAA credit rating due to the size of its indebtedness and these very large federal budget deficits, deficits that could potentially further destabilize government finances and financial markets; and
WHEREAS, millions of people in this country have made difficult choices discerning between wants and needs and have taken the responsible steps to curb personal spending in these difficult economic times:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the members of the House of Representatives of the Ninety-sixth General Assembly, Second Regular Session, the Senate concurring therein, hereby respectfully petition the Congress of the United States to propose to the states an amendment to the United States Constitution that requires the federal budget to be balanced each year; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Chief Clerk of the Missouri House of Representatives be instructed to prepare properly inscribed copies of this resolution for the President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and each member of the Missouri Congressional delegation.
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