CONGRESSMAN CUELLAR’S CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO BALANCE BUDGET GAINS ENDORSEMENT BY CONSERVATIVE BLUE DOG COALITION
Written by admin, Jul 21, 2011, 0 Comments
Courtesy Jose Borjon,Washington, D.C. – Congressman Henry Cuellar’s (TX-28) balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution has been endorsed by the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition. It would require the President to submit a balanced budget to Congress every fiscal year, along with other measures to enhance fiscal responsibility. The Blue Dog Coalition has endorsed Congressman Cuellar’s amendment as the right measure to reduce the national deficit, while protecting vital programs.
This amendment requires Congress to produce a balanced budget every fiscal year and requires the President to submit a balanced budget in his or her annual transmission to Congress. It also protects Social Security, ensuring that our most vulnerable do not face a reduction in benefits when they need them most.
“I am pleased by the support from the Blue Dog Coalition for my bill that creates a path to fiscal sovereignty. The balanced budget amendment was the first bill I introduced in an effort to set the tone of sound fiscal policy this Congress,” Congressman Cuellar said. “Reducing the national deficit is not only critical for our country’s economic recovery – it’s critical for future generations of Americans and this bill accomplishes that.”
“This bill is common sense to the American people. Forty-nine states currently require an annual balanced budget, and an amendment to the Constitution will finally hold the federal government to the same, common-sense standards,” Congressman Cuellar said. “I am eager to continue working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and the Blue Dog Coalition in an effort to tackle our budget problems with real-time solutions by my balanced budget amendment.”
The Blue Dog Coalition, a group of 25 conservative and moderate Democrats from throughout the country, voted Tuesday evening to support Congressman Cuellar’s balanced budget amendment, H. J. Res. 10.
Background on H. J. Res. 10:
- Require Congress to produce a balanced budget every fiscal year
- Require the President to submit a balanced budget in his or her annual transmission to Congress.
- Prohibit outlays for a fiscal year from exceeding total receipts for that fiscal year unless Congress, by a three-fifths roll call vote of each House, authorizes a specific excess of outlays over receipts.
- Provide seven years for three-fourths of the states to ratify the constitutional amendment.
- Protect Social Security benefits, ensuring that our most vulnerable are not subject to a reduction in their guaranteed benefits when they need them the most.
