Proposing A Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, no one in their right mind should be supporting this cynical and hypocritical Republican balanced budget amendment. This resolution has been rushed to the floor today without a single committee hearing.

The don't-tax-but-spend Republicans just exploded the national debt. They exploded this national debt by nearly $2 trillion with the tax scam-tax cut bill that dished out a $5.5 trillion gift to big multinational corporations and to the top 1 percent crowd: $5.5 trillion. Now they come back dumping, like a wheelbarrow full of horse manure, a radical balanced budget amendment onto this House floor today.

The Washington Post said that this is like Donald Trump proposing to lead a campaign to make adultery illegal. I agree with that assessment.

After passing their $5.5 trillion tax cut, and after passage of the omnibus spending bill that exploded the national debt, the don't-tax- but-spend Republicans are now shamelessly demanding that needy seniors sacrifice their retirement security to pay for the shameful tax giveaway to the greedy.

And that is not all. Just this week, the CBO released a report forecasting annual deficits of $1 trillion or more every single year that President Trump remains in office.

This Republican hypocrisy has got to stop.

Republican fiscal strategy has three goals: one, cut taxes for the wealthy; two, keep up the charade that they are fiscally responsible; and, three, and above all, they want to cut the social safety net. They want to cut programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and food stamps, all to pay for their handouts to those who already have plenty.

Enough is enough.

The American people cannot afford Republicans' fiscal hypocrisy any longer.

Democrats will continue to fight for a better deal for working people in America: policies that create good-paying jobs, reduce the deficit, and grow the economy for everyone. Americans deserve a better deal. They deserve better jobs, better wages, and a better future.

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