By: Creighton H.C.R. No. 18

HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, For much of the 20th century and into the 21st, the

United States has operated on a budget deficit, and it is estimated

that the deficit for 2010 was $1.3 trillion; and

WHEREAS, The higher the deficit, the more the government must

spend on paying interest on the debt; compounding the 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; the proposal

won wide support in 1995, failing by only one vote in the senate;

and

WHEREAS, This growing burden of public debt is a threat to the

nation's economic health, and action must be taken to restore

fiscal responsibility; a balanced budget amendment would require

the government not to spend more than it receives in revenues and

compel lawmakers to carefully consider choices about spending and

taxes; by encouraging spending control and discouraging deficit

spending, a balanced budget amendment will help put the nation on

the path to lasting prosperity; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the 82nd 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 to provide for a federal balanced

budget; 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 speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the

senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the

Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this

resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a

memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.