KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
Congressman Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, has co-sponsored a joint resolution proposing a constitutional amendment aimed at relieving the national debt and balancing the federal budget.
Since day 1, one of my top priorities in Congress is to reform Washington’s broken budget process & tackle 1 of the threats to our nation’s security: the nat'l debt. That’s why the 1st bill I cosponsored this year is 1 that would help balance our budget. https://t.co/o5UjQUDtfO
— Rep. Mike Garcia (@RepMikeGarcia) January 14, 2021
On Thursday, Garcia announced that he had joined nearly two dozen other lawmakers in co-sponsoring House Joint Resolution 3 (H.J.Res.3), which proposes a constitutional amendment aimed at balancing the national budget.
“Since day one, one of my top priorities in Congress is to reform Washington’s broken budget process and tackle one of the largest threats to our nation’s security: the national debt,” Garcia said in a statement Thursday. “That’s why the first bill I cosponsored this year is one that would add a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, which would help us relieve the national debt.”
Introduced by Representative Steve Chabot of Ohio on Jan. 4, the resolution prohibits the total outlays for a fiscal year from exceeding the total receipts for that same fiscal year, unless authorized by a three-fifths rollcall vote from both houses of Congress.
This excludes both outlays used as repayments towards the debt principal, and receipts that are derived from borrowing.
See Related: Congressman Mike Garcia Appointed To House Appropriations Committee
The resolution also requires the President of the United States to submit a balanced year each year.
However, Congress is authorized to waive these requirements during periods of war.
“The provisions of this article may be waived for any fiscal year in which the United States is engaged in military conflict which causes an imminent and serious military threat to national security and is so declared by a joint resolution, adopted by a majority of the whole number of each House, which becomes law,” the text of the resolution reads. “Any such waiver must identify and be limited to the specific excess or increase for that fiscal year made necessary by the identified military conflict.”
The resolution has since been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
“I will continue to fight to ensure that we can pay off the $27 trillion in crippling debt we face today, something that remains a threat to our national security,” Garcia said.
Sponsored Articles
KHTS FM 98.1 and AM 1220 is Santa Clarita’s only local radio station. KHTS mixes in a combination of news, traffic, sports, and features along with your favorite adult contemporary hits. Santa Clarita news and features are delivered throughout the day over our airwaves, on our website and through a variety of social media platforms. Our KHTS national award-winning daily news briefs are now read daily by 34,000+ residents. A vibrant member of the Santa Clarita community, the KHTS broadcast signal reaches all of the Santa Clarita Valley and parts of the high desert communities located in the Antelope Valley. The station streams its talk shows over the web, reaching a potentially worldwide audience. Follow @KHTSRadio on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Straight out of the Republican playbook. They do this every time they lose the presidency when , in fact, they are responsible for the increasing national debt.
GW Bush took an economy thriving at the end of WJ Clinton’s term and blew the surplus on tax cuts to the wealthy (his base, as you may recall him saying).
The twice-impeached in one term traitor, Donald Trump did the same following Obama’s two successful terms.
Guess who pays the bill? Guess where the money comes from should this nonsense pass? If you raised your hand, good on you. We pay it though higher taxes and reduced or eliminated social programs like medicare and Social Security.
Before you pile on me in righteous indignation, fact check what I’ve said.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Garcia is a joke!
Exactly my thoughts
The idea that the GOP is the party of fiscal responsibility seems to be one of the most persistent myths in American politics. Republican presidential administrations have consistently driven up the deficit—the amount that government spending exceeds revenue—over the past four decades.
When Republicans swept the 2016 election, they were in full control of the government’s purse strings. At that time, the deficit was $585 billion and total debt was $19.6 trillion.
Trump promised to reduce the national debt — then his corporate tax cuts made it surge. Trump’s claim that increased revenue from the tariffs would help eliminate (or at least reduce) our national debt never panned out.
In 2018 and 2019 the deficits increased to $779 billion and $984 billion and debt increased to $21.5 trillion and $22.8 trillion respectively. Then, for the first months of this fiscal year before COVID, the deficit reached $691 billion and debt topped $23 trillion. This was pre-pandemic. By the end of 2020, our national debt was at $26.9 trillion and the deficit hit $1.2 trillion.
During this cycle Republicans displayed no appetite for reducing the deficit or reigning in tax cuts. White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney was asked why the president didn’t mention the national deficit in his 2019 State of the Union address, Mulvaney said “nobody cares.”
Well apparently nobody cares only when a Republican is spending.
Bill Clinton had a budget surplus but the GOP wouldn’t allow him to “pay” on the alleged “national debt”. George Bush said Clinton’s actions proved taxes were too high. This is as close as we ever got in my adult life. Modern monetary theory says the national debt isn’t a serious thing. We have been off the gold standard for almost 100 years.
45’s hero Andrew Jackson:
On Jan. 8, 1835, all the big political names in Washington gathered to celebrate what President Andrew Jackson had just accomplished. A senator rose to make the big announcement: “Gentlemen … the national debt … is PAID.”
That was the one time in U.S. history when the country was debt free. It lasted exactly one year.
By 1837, the country would be in panic and headed into a massive depression.” npr.org
Great points, David. It is interesting that Garcia is proposing legislation to curbing spending NOW, at a time when medical care in Southern California is at a precipice, job losses are crippling, the under/unemployed struggle to feed/house their families.
There’s this provision too-
“However, Congress is authorized to wave these requirements during periods of war.” We are constantly at war with something or somebody. Currently we are at war right here at home with Neo-Nazis, White Supremacists, hate groups etc., Covid and climate destruction, not to mention our foreign entanglements. Gotta keep our warring safe. Isn’t that really Mikey’s profession anyway? He was a US Naval fighter pilot, Raytheon Technologies and now our ‘career in the military industrial complex warrior’ is our congressman and he’s here to make his mark. Hooray Hooray Hooray…
I guess political ambition knows no bounds. If ambition exceeds the issues that matter and affect your constituents most, that is a problem.