Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 27, 1995 TAG: 9501270077
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The 300-132 bipartisan endorsement was 12 more than the two-thirds majority needed to send the measure to the Senate. Supporters expressed confidence that they would prevail there, despite the likelihood of a protracted battle, and would ultimately send the measure to the states for a final ratification drive.
Of Virginia's representatives, only three Democrats voted against the amendment: Robert C. Scott of Newport News, Owen Pickett of Virginia Beach and Rick Boucher of Abingdon.
White House press secretary Mike McCurry said after the vote, ``We all want to see a balanced budget, but the president would also like to see the details of how the House would propose to meet this new constitutional requirement.''
No White House approval is needed to send a constitutional amendment to the states.
The measure calls for a balanced budget beginning in 2002, or two years after ratification by three-quarters of the states. It requires a three-fifths vote in both houses to run a deficit thereafter. A similar three-fifths vote would be required to increase the federal debt, which now approaches $4.7 trillion.
Cheers erupted when Speaker Newt Gingrich announced the results of a preliminary roll call that demonstrated enough support to pass the measure.
The vote came little more than three weeks after Republicans took control of the House and launched a 100-day effort to implement their ``Contract With America,'' promising lower taxes and less government.
Democrats failed in an effort to force Republicans to detail a program of spending cuts, and failed again in a politically enticing attempt to exempt Social Security from future spending reductions. Republicans insist they plan no Social Security cuts.
Democrats did succeed in thwarting a more severe amendment that would have required three-fifths majority votes in Congress to raise taxes.
Republican Leader Dick Armey of Texas, near the end of the daylong debate, said that years of deficits mean ``Each and every one of our children today is endowed with $18,000 of federal debt.'' Without the amendment, he said, ``that indebtedness will grow larger and larger and larger.''
Said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, ``American families know that trying to get Democrats to quit spending taxpayer dollars is like trying to knock hungry buzzards off a meat wagon.''
Democrats replied that the GOP's proposal would lead to devastating cuts in popular social programs, Medicare and Social Security among them. ``This amendment will put a noose around the necks of senior citizens,'' charged Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. The party's whip, Rep. David Bonior of Michigan, suggested that neither Gingrich nor Armey could be trusted not to tamper with Social Security.
L.F. Payne, the Democrat representing Virginia's 5th District, supported the measure. He disagrees with fellow Democrats who argue that it will strip funding from programs like Social Security and Medicare.
"The most serious threat for those programs is to keep spending until it gets completely out of control," Payne said. ``We just simply can't spend any more money than we take in.
"This is the first time in history the House has passed a constitutional amendment to bring fiscal responsibility to the budget process.''
Payne said the bipartisan effort to pass the bill "was a good start. I hope it paves the way for a bipartisan session in Congress."
by CNB