Hoyer: Balanced Budget Amendment Unnecessary
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 1:52PMBy Adrianna McGinley
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) today criticized Republican efforts to pass a Balanced Budget Amendment.
Although reporters noted that he supported a Balanced Budget Amendment in the 1990s, Hoyer said he no longer does because of fiscal “irresponsibility” on the part of Republican leadership over the last decade.
“What I said in 1995 I absolutely agree with today,” Hoyer said. “Unfortunately, I did not contemplate the irresponsibility that I have seen fiscally over the last 9 years or 8 years of the Bush administration and Republican leadership in the House and the Senate.”
Hoyer said Congress should be focused on finding ways to pay for the deficit, not passing constitutional amendments.
“The tough votes are paying for things, it’s not a tough vote to pretend you’re going to go for a balanced budget by having some amendment on the floor…if you want to cut revenues, make sure that you have the guts to cut spending…if you don’t have that kind of courage then don’t criticize others for saying we have to pay for things.”
Hoyer said, however, that he believes the so-called “super committee” tasked with creating a plan to reduce the nation’s deficit will meet its Thanksgiving deadline.
“Time is short but not so short that agreement can’t be reached,” he said. Failure, he added, is not an option because the billions in automatic cuts to domestic and defense spending that would result are “irrational and bad policy.”
Hoyer said that the U.S. has the resources to solve its problems but lacks “the courage and the will to do so.”
Ohio Governor calls for fiscal relief for state governments
"I think Ohio is similar to many other states...my first two year budget was the slowest growth budget that Ohio had in 42 years. We were very frugal with the people's resources," said Strickland during a teleconference hosted by Campaign for Jobs and Economic Recovery Now.
"In spite of that fact, over the last few months I have had to reduce over 1.9 billion dollars in our current budget."
The Governor stated that without immediate federal assistance, Ohio would be faced with a 7.3 billion dollar deficit in 2011.
"In order for us to have a balanced budget in 2010 and 2011 without federal assistance I would have to cut state government spending by 25%," a notion that Strickland described as impossible.
Governors Dave Patterson (D-N.Y.), Jim Doyle (D-Wis.), Jon Corzine (D-N.J.), Deval Patrick (D-Mass.), Jennifer Granholm (D-Mich.), Jim Doyle (D-Wis.), and others have joined Strickland in calling for state assistance.
"We have got to have this help. It must come from the Federal Government because states do need to have a balanced budget, it will require additional borrowing...and the deficit will increase. There is no doubt about that," commented Strickland.
"But I believe the President Elect is correct in saying the greatest threat is in doing nothing and allowing this recession to become ever deeper," he concluded.