Congressman Burton, who has always been a fighter for fiscal stewardship in the House, signed onto legislation today that would provide for a Constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget.  This isn't the first time that Burton has supported a Constitutional balanced budget amdendment.  In 1995, after the Republicans took the majority in Congress, Representative Burton also co-signed on to similar legislation.  And while it got a vote on the House floor, it did not get the required 2/3 majority vote to pass the House.  

Recently, Congressman Burton also signed on to a letter to President Obama supporting his rumored decision to put forth budgets that would include freezes and cuts on non essential funding for the upcoming fiscal year.  That letter has since been redirected to the House Budget Committee though since the President announced that he would be including a spending freeze this morning. 

You can read the text of the Dear Colleague being circulated by Congressman Paul Broun, who is the lead sponsor, regarding proposed Constitutional amendment below.

Dear Colleague:

For most of our nation’s history, deficits were only temporary in nature, brought on by wars or other emergencies, and the accumulated national debt was reduced once the crises passed.

Our nation’s debt recently passed $12 trillion, having more than doubled in less than a decade. Last year’s $700 billion bailout and the $787 billion "stimulus" bill have added record amounts to our obligations with no end in sight. To many in Congress, the debt is an incomprehensible, incalculable number with no effect on one's daily life. The reality, however, is that it imposes significant costs on American taxpayers every day and will only continue to get worse if Congress doesn't rein in out-of-control spending.

Over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the President's budget would spend nearly $9.3 trillion more than what is expected in revenue - roughly equal to the total amount of debt we accumulated from 1791 through the beginning of February 2008. This unsustainable pattern cannot continue.

We must act to constitutionally protect future generations of Americans from excessive federal debt. Today, forty-nine states have balanced budget requirements, most of which are written into their constitutions. It is time that Congress abides by the same restrictions that states have placed on themselves.

My Balanced Budget Amendment would:

1. Other bills require a majority, or in some cases 3/5 to raise taxes or the debt ceiling. My bill requires a 2/3 majority vote to raise revenue and allow an excess of outlays over receipts.
2. Other bills do not have spending constraints. This bill limits spending growth of the entire budget to no more than population growth plus inflation.
3. Other bills allow waivers during declaration of war OR military conflict. This bill allows only for waivers during actual Declarations of War. Such waivers, since they would only be during actual war, need only a regular majority.
4. Other bills do not account for what happens when estimates are wrong. In other words, they can cook the books by saying they’ll have more tax revenues than they will. This bill forces the NEXT fiscal year to account for any imbalance in the previous year’s estimates by placing that amount in the spending column for that year.
5. This bill requires all excess revenue at the end of a fiscal year to be returned to the American taxpayer.

Paul C. Broun, M.D. (GA-10)

Member of Congress