Culberson on Failed Passage of the Balanced Budget Amendment Resolution

I released the following statement after the House failed to pass H.J.Res. 2, Proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution of the United States, sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.).

A Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution is the single most important piece of legislation that Congress can pass. By voting down this critical measure, the Democrats are choosing to fuel the out-of-control growth of automatic social safety net programs. 

Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, veterans’ benefits, and principal and interest on the debt consume 70 cents of every federal dollar. The annual appropriations bills account for the other 30 cents, and half of that is spent on defense, which we cannot cut.  

With a national debt of $21 trillion and an annual deficit approaching $1 trillion, it is obvious that we cannot balance the budget by only focusing on 15 cents out of every federal dollar. 

The only way to truly balance America’s budget is to restore the solvency of Social Security and Medicare and control the growth of Medicaid.