By: Creighton	H.C.R. No. 18

	HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, For much of the 20th century and into the 21st, the
	United States has operated on a budget deficit, and it is estimated
	that the deficit for 2010 was $1.3 trillion; and
	WHEREAS, The higher the deficit, the more the government must
	spend on paying interest on the debt; compounding the problem is the
	use of deficit spending, which becomes a responsibility for future
	generations of Americans to assume without their consent; and
	WHEREAS, Congress has attempted to set budgetary restraints
	for itself in the form of a balanced budget amendment; the proposal
	won wide support in 1995, failing by only one vote in the senate;
	and
	WHEREAS, This growing burden of public debt is a threat to the
	nation's economic health, and action must be taken to restore
	fiscal responsibility; a balanced budget amendment would require
	the government not to spend more than it receives in revenues and
	compel lawmakers to carefully consider choices about spending and
	taxes; by encouraging spending control and discouraging deficit
	spending, a balanced budget amendment will help put the nation on
	the path to lasting prosperity; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas
	hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to
	propose and submit to the states for ratification an amendment to
	the United States Constitution to provide for a federal balanced
	budget; and, be it further
	RESOLVED, That the Texas Secretary of State forward official
	copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
	the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the
	senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the
	Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this
	resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a
	memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.