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PAG LIN
1 1 HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO.
1 2 BY SIEGRIST, GREIG, EDDIE, DRAKE, GIPP,
1 3 NELSON, BRADLEY, TYRRELL, SUKUP, CORMACK,
1 4 JENKINS, BARRY, MARTIN, VAN FOSSEN, DIX,
1 5 JACOBS, KREMER, VEENSTRA, VANDE HOEF, BLODGETT,
1 6 MEYER, HAHN, HANSEN, WEIDMAN, BOGGESS, HUSEMAN,
1 7 RAYHONS, DINKLA, GRUNDBERG, HOUSER, METCALF,
1 8 O'BRIEN, MERTZ, VAN MAANEN, BRAUNS, ARNOLD,
1 9 THOMSON, MUNDIE, CORBETT, GREINER, WITT, CATALDO,
1 10 DOLECHECK, CHURCHILL, and KLEMME
1 11 A Concurrent Resolution requesting the Congress of the
1 12 United States to submit to the States for ratification
1 13 a balanced budget amendment to the United States
1 14 Constitution.
1 15 WHEREAS, with each passing year this nation becomes
1 16 deeper in debt as federal government expenditures
1 17 repeatedly exceed available revenues, so that the
1 18 federal public debt is now approximately $4.9
1 19 trillion, or $19,000 for every man, woman, and child;
1 20 and
1 21 WHEREAS, the annual federal budget has not been
1 22 balanced since 1969, demonstrating an unwillingness or
1 23 inability of both the legislative and executive
1 24 branches of the federal government to spend in
1 25 conformity with available revenues; and
1 26 WHEREAS, knowledgeable planning, fiscal prudence,
1 27 and plain good sense require that the federal budget
1 28 should not be manipulated to present the appearance of
1 29 being in balance while, in fact, federal indebtedness
1 30 continues to grow; and
2 1 WHEREAS, believing that fiscal irresponsibility at
2 2 the federal level, which is resulting in a lower
2 3 standard of living and endangering economic
2 4 opportunity now and for the next generation, is the
2 5 greatest threat which faces our nation; and
2 6 WHEREAS, Thomas Jefferson recognized the importance
2 7 of a balanced budget when he wrote, "The question
2 8 whether one generation has the right to bind another
2 9 by the deficit it imposes is a question of such
2 10 consequence as to place it among the fundamental
2 11 principles of government. We should consider
2 12 ourselves unauthorized to saddle posterity with our
2 13 debts, and morally bound to pay them ourselves"; and
2 14 WHEREAS, the principal functions of the
2 15 Constitution of the United States include promoting
2 16 the broadest principles of a government of, by, and
2 17 for the people; setting forth the most fundamental
2 18 responsibilities of government; and enumerating and
2 19 limiting the powers of the government to protect the
2 20 basic rights of the people; and
2 21 WHEREAS, the federal government's unlimited ability
2 22 to borrow involves decisions of such magnitude, with
2 23 such potentially profound consequences for the nation
2 24 and its people, today and in the future, that it is
2 25 appropriately a subject for limitation by the
2 26 Constitution of the United States; and
2 27 WHEREAS, the Constitution of the United States
2 28 vests the ultimate responsibility to approve or
2 29 disapprove of amendments to the Constitution of the
2 30 United States with the people of the several States,
3 1 as represented by their elected Legislatures; and
3 2 WHEREAS, opposition by a small minority within
3 3 Congress and, on occasion, by the President, has
3 4 repeatedly thwarted the will of the people of the
3 5 United States that a balanced budget amendment to the
3 6 Constitution of the United States should be submitted
3 7 to the States for ratification while large majorities
3 8 of both Houses of Congress already have prepared,
3 9 considered, and voted for such amendment; NOW
3 10 THEREFORE,
3 11 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, THE
3 12 SENATE CONCURRING, That the General Assembly of the
3 13 State of Iowa requests the members of the Congress of
3 14 the United States to expeditiously pass, and to
3 15 propose to the Legislatures of the several States for
3 16 ratification, an amendment to the Constitution of the
3 17 United States requiring in the absence of a national
3 18 emergency that the total of all federal appropriations
3 19 made by the Congress for any fiscal year not exceed
3 20 the total of all estimated federal revenues for that
3 21 fiscal year; and
3 22 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Legislatures of
3 23 each of the several States comprising the United
3 24 States be urged to apply to the Congress requesting
3 25 the proposal for ratification of such an amendment to
3 26 the Constitution of the United States; and
3 27 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this
3 28 Resolution be transmitted to the President of the
3 29 United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States
3 30 House of Representatives, the members of Iowa's
4 1 congressional delegation, and the presiding officers
4 2 of each house of the Legislatures of each of the other
4 3 States.
4 4 LSB 1610HH 77
4 5 sc/sc/14
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