Bill Text: TX HCR46 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging 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 national emergency or 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.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-02-25 - Referred to Federalism & Fiscal Responsibility, Select [HCR46 Detail]
Download: Texas-2013-HCR46-Introduced.html
| 83R6100 BPG-D | ||
| By: Ashby | H.C.R. No. 46 | |
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| WHEREAS, For most of the nation's first 200 years, the United | ||
| States ran a budget surplus except in periods of war or economic | ||
| turmoil, but in the 20th and 21st centuries, the federal government | ||
| has frequently operated in the red, and the Congressional Budget | ||
| Office expects the deficit to exceed an astounding $1 trillion for | ||
| the fifth year in a row in fiscal 2013; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The federal government concluded 2012 by officially | ||
| hitting its authorized debt ceiling of about $16.4 trillion; | ||
| although this amounts to a debt burden of more than $52,000 per | ||
| citizen, Congress voted in January to suspend the statutory | ||
| borrowing limit until May, and the national debt continues to soar | ||
| at an average of more than $3.8 billion per day; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The State of Texas is one of 46 states that require a | ||
| balanced budget either constitutionally or by statute, and it is | ||
| reasonable to expect the federal government to operate within | ||
| similarly responsible parameters; through the years, many states | ||
| have requested that Congress propose a constitutional amendment | ||
| requiring a balanced budget, and although such a proposal won broad | ||
| congressional support in 1995, it failed by one vote in the senate; | ||
| and | ||
| WHEREAS, The higher the deficit, the more the government must | ||
| spend on interest, and the greater the burden on future | ||
| generations; a balanced budget amendment would require the | ||
| government not to spend more than it receives in revenue and would | ||
| compel lawmakers to carefully consider choices about spending and | ||
| taxes; and | ||
| WHEREAS, It is a fundamental truth that no entity can remain | ||
| solvent when expenditures continually outpace revenue, and every | ||
| home and every business must spend within its means or face fiscal | ||
| calamity; the fiscal irresponsibility of the federal government not | ||
| only jeopardizes the country's economic stability, but also | ||
| threatens national security; now, therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the 83rd 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 | ||
| national emergency or 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, 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 president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of | ||
| Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the | ||
| members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that | ||
| this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a | ||
| memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. | ||
