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Iowa's GOP governor another backer of balanced budget
February 1, 1997Web posted at: 3:02 p.m. EST (2002 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad delivered the Republicans' weekly radio address Saturday, plugging his reasons for supporting GOP efforts to pass a balanced-budget amendment.
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"In state after state, budgets are balanced ... and despite what opponents say, fiscal discipline will be beneficial to the country just as it has benefited the states with more quality jobs and higher incomes," Branstad said.
Branstad questioned whether President Clinton's pledges to balance the budget without the proposed 28th amendment to the Constitution could be trusted.
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"The balanced-budget amendment will hold the president and the Congress accountable to the people," Branstad said. "It will change the way the federal government does business ... by forcing our leaders to be fiscally responsible."
The Republican bill, which failed by one vote in the Senate last year after passing the House, would amend the Constitution by allowing the government to use Social Security trust funds to reduce the deficit. Opponents of the bill claim such a move endangers the public pension program.
Clinton cannot veto a constitutional amendment. Once it passes both houses of Congress by at least a two-thirds majority, states have seven years to vote on it. For final passage, it must be ratified by 38 of the 50 states.
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GOP's weekly radio address |
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Transcript:
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