Inhofe Calls On Senate To Pass BBA

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), a leading fiscal conservative in the Senate, today used a key floor speech to call on his colleagues to pass the Republican offered Balanced Budget Amendment currently being considered by the Senate.

"A lot of the groups and members who are opposed to passing the Balanced Budget Amendment think that we don't need one. They actually believe Congress and the president can balance a budget without any enforceable accountability. But in 1986 when the amendment failed by one vote, I remember that year so well because that was the year I was elected to the House of Representatives here in Washington. The national debt at that time was $2.1trillion. But by 1997 when the Senate considered the amendment again, the debt had risen to over $5 trillion, and it got up to about $10 trillion when this president took office, and that's where this all starts. What has happened since President Obama has been in office is something that's totally unprecedented in the history of this country. It's gone up in just the years he's been there 42%. So here I was concerned back in 1968 with $240 billion, and now the increase in just this short period of time, increases our debt from $10 billion to $15 trillion."

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• Inhofe
• Balanced Budget Amendment
• BBA
• Fiscal
• Debt
• Deficit
• Obama
• Spending