Congressman Childers Cosponsors Balanced Budget Amendment, Accountability Legislation

January 13, 2009 

Washington, DC - Congressman Travis Childers (D-MS) has cosponsored a constitutional amendment to balance the budget, as well as a resolution to improve House oversight, joining his colleagues in taking continued steps in the right direction towards increased government fiscal responsibility and accountability.

"Our government needs to return to acting responsibly, practicing fiscal discipline and holding itself accountable to the American people," said Congressman Childers. "Everyday, hard working North Mississippi families are forced to make ends meet on a balanced budget. The U.S. government should operate no differently. We currently owe trillions of dollars in debt to foreign countries, risking worsening economic conditions and, most importantly, our national security. It is time for this irresponsible and wasteful spending to end. I am proud to support the Balanced Budget Amendment with my colleagues from both sides of the aisle in an effort to bring the government back to a commonsense spending policy."

The bipartisan Balanced Budget amendment demands that Congress enact fiscally responsible spending measures, reduce the deficit, and ensure that hard-earned taxpayer dollars are not squandered on wasteful spending. The amendment was previously introduced in the 110th Congress, with 163 bipartisan cosponsors. The text of the bill will be identical in the 111th Congress.

"Congress must perform with increased oversight and accountability," said Congressman Childers. "Recent authorization of enormous sums of taxpayer money to the U.S. government indicates that there need to be more thorough measures in place to prevent mismanagement or misuse of these funds. Congress has a constitutional responsibility to oversee federal spending and, for several years, Congress has abandoned this responsibility. I am pleased to support H.Res. 40 to ensure that American taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly, and to help eliminate overall waste, fraud, and abuse."

H.Res. 40, sponsored by Congressman John Tanner (D-TN), amends House Rules to require committees to hold a minimum of three oversight hearings per-year on waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement within their jurisdiction. Additional hearings are required if an audit has a disclaimer that the agency's books are not in order or if an agency is listed as "high risk" for waste, fraud, abuse or mismanagement.

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